Newcastle United Reserve team coach Alan Thompson believes that the debut’s of youngsters Aaron Spear and Patrick Nzuzi (pictured) can be considered plus points despite the 4-2 defeat at Rotherham on Tuesday night.
The pair, both just 16 years old and first-year Apprentices at the Club’s Academy, were handed their maiden second-string starts against an experienced Millers side at the Don Valley Stadium.
LFE Blogger Patrick Nzuzi was in the thick of the action clearing the ball from his goal-line in a fast-paced opening period.
Former Plymouth Argyle youngster Aaron Spear made his mark at the other end collecting possession from Samuel Adjei’s low centre at the far post. His powerful smash across goal turned into the back of the net via the fingertips of Millers keeper Jamie Annerson.
Speaking to nufcTV, Alan Thompson said:
“They can both be proud of themselves and they were a positive. Aaron is a young lad we signed from Plymouth, he’s got good ability, can see a pass and has worked hard tonight and took his goal well.”
“Patrick is another young player but we’ve seen tonight that he’s a good defender. He came in against experienced players and handled himself and can only learn from that.”
United also handed second-string bows to fellow first-year Apprentices Liam Henderson and Ryan McGorrigan who emerged from the bench during a second-half in which the hosts, having cancelled out Spear’s opener before the break, struck three times to take a 4-1 lead before Wesley Ngo Baheng netted a late consolation.
And former Magpie ace Alan added:
“We did smashing in the first-half but a lack of experience told after half-time. But we had a lot of 16 year olds in there and it’s a good experience for them.”
To read more about Patrick’s experiences at Newcastle united visit www.blog.lfe.org.uk
