FRIENDLY? Not quite, as a small section of Newcastle fans brought disgrace on their club by taking a second-half scrap from the North Stand of the Northern Echo Arena onto the pitch, and into the centre circle.

Moments earlier, more still – five or six hundred – had spilled onto the playing area in a harmless celebratory interruption to proceedings following Sammy Ameobi’s goal, which doubled United’s lead after Joey Barton’s early opener.

It was hardly the stuff you expect of such normally mundane affairs.

Thankfully, no further interjections occurred, though arrests have been made.

More thankfully still, given all that, the football was fairly tame by comparison.

As anticipated on such occasions, the Premier League side – in orange; the future, bright-ish – bossed it, with Hatem Ben Arfa looking lively, and fleet of foot.

Equally unsurprisingly, Darlington were doughty, resolute. But only after a nightmare start.

Inside two minutes Alan Smith, playing left of a three-man midfield platform propping up Ben Arfa and Haris Vukic, crossed from deep on ‘his’ flank.

Leon Best nodded the ball between Miller and Lee, and Barton timed his approach into a gaping hole in the six-yard box to perfection, to side-foot past Sam Russell.

Decent start, for United. But after that boost, a blow swiftly followed.

On 12 minutes Danny – or Chris, as the team-sheet had it – Guthrie hobbled off, fairly innocuously it would seem.

At least though, that paved the way for the earlier-than planned, if still belated introduction to English football of Yohan Cabaye.

And without pulling up any arbres, the Frenchman made a tidy early impression. Indeed, his earliest – crunching into a tackle – also suggested he may take less time to settle into conditions prevailing this side of the Channel than some suspect.

Thereafter, evidence of his more characteristic talents was apparent.

Teed up by Ben Arfa on 19 minutes he thumped a long-range strike over the crossbar, and moments later his raking crossfield pass sought out Vukic, who side-stepped two defenders only to see his goalbound shot deflected clear by the head of Lee. Best then twice shot straight at Russell, and Ben Arfa lifted an effort over before beating two defenders and drilling a low shot too close to the Quakers goalkeeper.