Having begun the new U21 reserve league season by scoring six times against Spurs, Newcastle went goal crazy again on Monday night at the Britannia Stadium.

And after Adam Campbell's three strikes in that opener, the hat trick hero this time was midfielder Brad Inman. Marcus Maddison and JJ Hooper also netted, while Campbell was denied from the penalty spot.

Willie Donachie's side started brightly, both Hooper and Campbell going close with shots early on. City however then missed the best opportunity to go ahead on 12 minutes, when Abu Bakarr Kargbo was denied by goal line blocks from United 'keeper Jak Alnwick and then defender Lubo Satka.

Campbell tested Potters 'keeper Daniel Bachmann with a powerful effort from a narrow angle on 19 minutes, while strike partner Hooper then broke into the area but was unable to direct his curling effort on target.

Ten minutes later though the black and whites deservedly broke the deadlock when Conor Newton's pass across Stoke's 18 yard line found Inman who steadied himself and steered the ball into the bottom left hand corner.

Maddison then flighted one dangerous free kick from the corner of the box just over the bar but made no mistake six minutes before half time, taking down a long diagonal ball, powering into the City area and hammering a simply unstoppable shot into the top corner.

The one way traffic continued after the restart with Inman making it 3-0 on 51 minutes when Campbell ran at the defence and then slotted the ball for Inman to dink the ball over the 'keeper.

Two minutes later the referee correctly ruled that Bachmann had punched Maddison after failing to connect with a cross. However, the City 'keeper promptly atoned for his blunder, blocking both Campbell's initial penalty attempt and then his follow-up effort.

Adam Campbell sees his penalty follow-up saved at the Britannia

City then reduced the arrears on 59 minutes, when Roy Odiaka headed home a free kick and the Potters thought they'd won a spot kick of their own five minutes later - only for Kargbo to theatrically tumble over and the unimpressed referee wave play on.

That proved to be the end of Stoke's mini revival and full back Alex Nicholson expertly teed up Inman on 68 minutes with a fine run and slide rule pass to slot home his third of the night and Newcastle's fourth.

Inman then turned provider to release Hooper and the striker strode forward to coolly fire past Bachmann for his first-ever reserve goal with 14 minutes remaining, to the delight of the many Toon sympathisers in the sparse crowd.

Niall MacKenzie

Reports