Newcastle 2-1 Rayo Vallecano: Longstaff and Wood score in solid display at SJP

Newcastle United played host to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday afternoon as we concluded our preparation for the return of the regular season in just a few days time with a 2-1 victory over the La Liga side.

Sean Longstaff opened the scoring after just four minutes with a first-time effort after a poor clearance from one of the Vallecano defenders.

In a game full of sloppy errors, Wood converted a spot-kick in the second half after a poor challenge on Willock while at the other end Matt Targett saw his clearance bounce into his own net.

16 first-team members - Darlow, Karius, Burn, Dummett, Krafth, Lewis, Manquillo, Ritchie, Schar, Almiron, Anderson, Joelinton, Fraser, Bruno, Isak, Wilson - were all missing from the matchday squad, suggesting a number of them could be featuring in our midweek clash against Bournemouth.

NUFC XI: Pope, Trippier, Lascelles, Botman, Targett, Shelvey, S Longstaff, Willock, Murphy, Saint-Maximin, Wood

SUBS: Gillespie, Brookwell, Carlyon, Scott, Stephenson, Crossley, Ndiweni, Turner-Cooke, A Murphy, L Miley

It was a nervy start for Newcastle after Chris Wood played a poor ball straight to Alvaro Garcia who forced Nick Pope into making the first save of the day after just two minutes.

But the Magpies quickly found their feet and scored the opening goal with our first attack after a good cross from Kieran Trippier which was only half-cleared by the defender and Sean Longstaff was able to latch on to the loose ball and fire it into the back of the net.

After just ten minutes, Eddie Howe's side looked hungry for more as Longstaff made another good run, intercepting the ball from a poor goal kick and forced Vallecano's goalkeeper into a good save.

Newcastle looked very sharp going forwards and could have had another one or two after Wood had the ball in the net but was called back for an earlier offside while Jonjo Shelvey's tame effort was deflected and held by the keeper.

Both sides struggled to keep hold of the ball throughout the first half and produced a number of sloppy passes in the middle of the pitch, often leading to a counter attack.

Midway through the first period Longstaff, who had a great start to the game, linked up well with Chris Wood in midfield before the Kiwi played a great ball into Trippier who saw his cross into Murphy claimed by Dimitrievski.

Murphy got his first effort on goal on the half hour mark after again being played through by Trippier down the right-wing, but his angled shot was again kept out by the keeper.

Heading into the break, Vallecano had looked poor all afternoon but Newcastle had failed to really capitalise on these mistakes despite often winning the midfield battle and making a number of promising runs. Longstaff's early goal was all that separated the two sides.

It was a slow start to the second half with neither side really fabricating a chance in the first ten minutes. Murphy had put a great cross into the area but Wood had just mistimed his run and the chance went begging.

The Toon showed some great build-up play halfway through the second period, switching the ball from right to left, but the final ball from Targett into the box was fairly easily held by the goalkeeper.

Newcastle were awarded a penalty after Joe Willock was brought down just inside the box - although seemingly going away from goal - and Chris Wood smashed it into the top of the net to double our lead with 20 minutes remaining.

Former Newcastle man Florian Lejeune made his return to St James' Park after being substituted on immediately after the second goal and was met with a round of applause from the home fans.

In one of Vallecano's few second half attacks, Targett was very unfortunate to see his clearance fall into his own net, halving the deficit, after trying to intercept a cross from the left-hand side.

Our first changes of the afternoon came after 77 minutes as Jay Turner-Cooke and Dylan Stephenson replaced Jonjo Shelvey and Chris Wood.

The away side had the chance to equalise just a few minutes after their first, but another tame effort from point-blank range was very easily saved by Pope.

Ex-Atletico Madrid and Monaco star Radamel Falcao was brought on for the visitors to try and rescue the game while 16-year-old Lewis Miley came on for Kieran Trippier in our third change of the day.

In the end it was a comfortable victory for Newcastle against a lacklustre Rayo Vallecano side and hopefully we have avoided any injury scares - particularly with Trippier having to receive treatment at one point.

Our attention now turns to Bournemouth on Tuesday night as we look to advance to the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup.