Newcastle United U-23’s are through to the Premier League International Cup after beating Sunderland 11-10 on penalties at the Stadium of light (2-2 after extra time).
Given it was an U-23 fixture on a cold Wednesday night, it was an impressive away following from the Toon Army and our fans were celebrating half an hour in, with Aussie centre-back Curtis Good giving us the lead with his head.
? HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the best bits from last night's epic #PLInternationalCup penalty-shootout victory over @SunderlandAFC U23s at the Stadium of Light. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/OAxN6JoGEF
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) March 8, 2018
Sunderland’s Lynden Gooch equalised from the spot a few minutes before the interval, sprinting over to the NUFC away support to celebrate his goal, with him scoring another in the second half to put the Mackems 2-1 up.
It looked like Sunderland were heading for the semi-finals, only for NUFC winger Callum Roberts to curl in a sensational free-kick in the 90th minute to sen us into extra time! A brilliant goal which was met by chants of ‘Ryan Taylor, over the wall’ by NUFC fans. Extra time saw us miss a penalty in the first 15, with it ending at 2-2 before it went to spot kicks.
Long story short, a mammoth penalty shoot-out ended in 11-10 in NUFC’s favour, seeing the U-23’s march on to the semi-finals against tournament holders Porto.
Here are the scenes at full-time, with the NUFC squad sprinting over to the Toon Army to celebrate their hard earned win over the Mackems!
Post-game scenes #nufc pic.twitter.com/abhaGj1C7C
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) March 7, 2018
There were some unsavoury scenes during and after the game, however, with NUFC fans reportedly ripping out seats at the during the game, whilst groups of supporters were believed to have clashed outside the stadium:
Newcastle fans tearing up seats in the away end. #safc
— James Hunter (@JHunterChron) March 7, 2018
Ugly scenes outside the stadium as a group of fans clash… #PLInternationalCup
— Andrew McDonnell (@AndrewSJourno) March 7, 2018
Antics aside, well done to the NUFC lads! A brilliant moment for them in our rivals back ally. Onto the semi-finals they go!
Rafa Benitez even had a message for them after the game – top bloke!
Congratulations to our NUFC U23. Great job, great result and great achievement for the lads and all the staff. Good luck for the next games. #NUFC
— Rafa Benitez Web (@rafabenitezweb) March 7, 2018
