Magpies help put Magpies to the sword

Paul's report on an, ahem, eventful match at the KC Stadium yesterday is to come, but in the meantime let's congratulate some of our loanees for enjoying unequivocally good afternoons.

At the New York Stadium, Rotherham racked up six goals without reply. James Tavernier and Haris Vuckic may be Magpies, but they showed little mercy towards birds of a feather Notts County. Tavernier opened the scoring with a classy free-kick, before Vuckic seized the opportunity afforded to him by a rare start, grabbing two goals (albeit both with the aid of considerable deflections).

There was also a goal for Conor Newton, who made the all-important breakthrough for St Mirren in their victory over Kilmarnock, but Shane Ferguson was again absent as Birmingham lost at Ipswich - not the ideal start to life without Terry Mac and Derek Fazackerley for Lee Clark.

Loanees making their mark

It was almost as if they'd read Michael's comments and were determined to prove him right. On Saturday, while Haris Vuckic was left kicking his heels on the bench for all but the final eight minutes, James Tavernier was an integral part of the promotion-chasing Rotherham side that handed Shrewsbury a sixth successive home defeat with three goals in the first 21 minutes. Tavernier might be a defender, but he set up the Millers' opener for fellow loanee Tom Hitchcock before scoring the third goal himself, against another club for whom he's turned out on loan.

Curiously enough, it was much the same story north of the border, where Adam Campbell also claimed a goal and an assist for St Mirren, before appearing somewhat fortunate to get away with a penalty-box handball that would have gifted Hibs the chance to level the game after being three goals down. Our other Buddies loanee Conor Newton played the full 90 minutes, and had a hand in Campbell's goal.

The outsiders

Saturday's substitute appearance wasn't enough to get Dreamboat a place in the French squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers - an omission which came as a "shock" to the player, according to the Silver Fox, who is planning on using the down time to hold clear-the-air talks with the midfielder and his representatives. With any luck, he'll realise he can't now leave until January anyway, so he might as well start putting in the sort of effort and performances that might merit a big-money move away from Tyneside.

Meanwhile, our 25-man Premier League squad was announced yesterday. We can adjust it again in January, but until then there's no room for loanees Shane Ferguson, Conor Newton and Romain Amalfitano. While the latter two are no great loss, it is something of a surprise that Ferguson - who has at times looked close to breaking into the first team and gives us a useful option wide on the left - has been omitted in favour of Raylor, who is widely expected to be out for the whole season. Unless the Silver Fox knows something that we don't...

Thistle do not so nicely

Credit to Rangers for taking time out of their busy schedule of self-implosion to play us in our third Scottish pre-season friendly on Tuesday night - the first we've failed to win.

The fixture doesn't present anything like the test it might have done in years gone by, with the side described by Charles Green as the worst in the club's history (much to manager Ally McCoist's anger) languishing in the third tier of Scottish football and fresh from a humiliating first-round League Cup exit at the hands of Forfar. So it was somewhat embarrassing that we turned in a poor display and only managed to salvage a draw thanks to a last-minute strike from substitute Big Lad - even more so when you consider that we began the game with arguably our first-choice XI.

While Paul Dummett appears to find himself in the first-team picture, replacing Davide Santon shortly after the hour mark at Ibrox, fellow former St Mirren loanee Conor Newton doesn't - and indeed, as I'd anticipated, has just headed back to the Buddies on loan until the new year. There's been reports of them temporarily recruiting striker Adam Campbell too - which, again, would be a good deal for all concerned - and Newton has been talking them up in the hope that he'll end up playing alongside another club colleague north of the border.

Staying up?

Conor Newton and Paul Dummett may have won admirers north of the border during their successful loan spell with St Mirren, but their performances evidently haven't gone unnoticed at St James' Park either, with the club deciding to offer the duo new deals.

They could yet decide to join the Buddies permanently, possibly for no fee, but Newton at least seems keen not to turn his back on his hometown club, even while remaining realistic about his chances of making the grade: "I would like to test myself down south at some point in my career, but I've only been playing first-team football for the past four months, so I'm not naive enough to think I'm just going to walk into the side at Newcastle. So the next few months are crucial for my development. But I would love to make it at Newcastle and get a chance to play in those black and white stripes. It's what every lad from the city dreams of. Right now, though, I will just bide my time."

Perhaps the best solution for all parties would be for the pair to sign the new contracts but be allowed another season on loan in Scotland (in the SPL, St Mirren having narrowly avoided relegation this season) - whether that will happen, though, we'll just have to wait and see.

Best Buddies

While our first team was busy getting cheated out of a point (if not all three) at the DW Stadium, other Toon employees past and present were enjoying an equally eventful Sunday afternoon.

St Mirren's capture of the Scottish League Cup, their first silverware for more than 25 years, at the expense of Hearts owed a great deal to players borrowed from another side in black and white stripes south of the border. Left-back Paul Dummett supplied the assist for the Buddies' second goal, which swung the match in their favour for the first time, before fellow loanee Conor Newton rifled in what turned out to be the winner. A cup triumph in front of more than 44,000 people probably beats turning out for the Reserves each week.

There was less delight for the Silver Fox's predecessor Chris Hughton as his Norwich side travelled to the Dark Place. They were in the lead when goalkeeper Mark Bunn was harshly red-carded for handling outside the area, before old boy Sebastien Bassong was penalised for handling inside, despite Steven Fletcher being offside in the build-up. Craig Gardner scored the resulting penalty but the misfiring Mackems rarely looked likely to get a win and Hughton will be happy enough with a point in the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Saturday saw Jermaine Jenas grab his second goal in successive games on loan at QPR. The first helped defeat the Mackems at Loftus Road last week, and the latest gave 'Appy 'Arry's multi-million-pound mob the lead at Villa Park, but they couldn't hang on and remain deep in trouble.

Sammy's a Smoggie (temporarily)

With our stars returning to form and fitness alongside our clutch of January imports, it's no surprise that Little Big Lad has been sent out on loan - something that would surely have happened sooner had we not suffered such a grievous injury crisis earlier in the season. The Smogs' gain - he certainly has the potential to make a big impact in the Championship run-in - is also ours, as he should return a better player for some regular first-team football at a good, competitive standard. You could argue that he's had his chance to shine for us but has flattered to deceive, so this is an important opportunity for him.

Meanwhile, three of our other loanees were reunited north of the border on Saturday. Conor Newton and Paul Dummett lined up for St Mirren, and Mehdi Abeid for their hosts St Johnstone. Abeid was withdrawn just after an hour, but not before his corner had set up Rowan Vine for the only goal of the game.

Honours for Conor?

Having touched on the benefits of a loan spell yesterday, it was remiss of me not to mention Conor Newton. The 21-year-old has been sent to St Mirren to gain some experience - and it doesn't get much better than a possible cup final appearance. That's the result of Saints' unexpected 3-2 triumph over the mighty Celtic at the weekend, during which our midfielder contributed an assist. Not bad for his first full 90 minutes at senior level...