Newcastle Reserves ultimately won their Northumberland Senior Cup tie at a canter, but only after enduring a sloppy first half in which their Northern Alliance Premier Division hosts more than held their own.

In front of a good crowd at Alnwick's St. James' Park, United wore their blue away kit to avoid clashing with the home side's traditional black and white shirts and took 26 minutes before testing Town 'keeper Brian Brookes.

Magpies forward Frank Wiafe Danquah made his way into the box at that point and saw his shot parried by Brokes, fellow striker Jonny Godsmark's follow-up blocked by a defender. 

And at the other end, a touch more poise on a couple of occasions could have embarrassed Newcastle, as the home side worked good shooting positions but were unable to test Fraser Forster between the posts.

Kicking down the slope in the second half though, a revitalised United took just seven minutes to fashion a breakthrough, James Troisi smashing home a free kick low and hard from the edge of the box.

That lead was doubled on the hour when substitute Mark Doninger shot towards goal after a long corner dropped nicely for him, Jonny Godsmark stabbing the loose ball home after the Alnwick 'keeper blocked the first shot.

With the hosts starting to tire, the pace of Godsmark then took him into the box four minutes later and he kept his composure to finish well.

78 minutes in and the goal - and celebration - of the night arrived as substitute Kazenga LuaLua cracked home our fourth with a cannon of a shot from outside the box, before treating the crowd to a triple somersault.

Next up was a smart finish from distance by Doninger just three minutes later, before Troisi netted again after jinking into the area and placing his effort beyond the 'keeper.

Finally Ryan Donaldson headed in with five minutes remaining, to complete a scoring sequence of seven in thirty two minutes - not bad for £4 admission.

Biffa

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