Duff at the double as Newcastle make winning start to pre-season

4:50pm Saturday 19th July 2008

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DAMIEN Duff started his pre-season programme in style this afternoon as his well-taken hat-trick helped Newcastle record a deserved 4-1 victory over Hartlepool United. Duff, whose only goal in the whole of last season came in the FA Cup replay win over Stoke, scored his first treble in Newcastle colours as the Magpies went one goal better than last summer’s 3-1 success at Victoria Park.

With Danny Guthrie also marking his first appearance in a Newcastle shirt with a goal following a summer move from Liverpool, Kevin Keegan will have been delighted with his side’s opening pre-season effort.

Pools boss Danny Wilson will be disappointed at the way in which his side threw away an early lead granted to them by Matty Robson’s 16th-minute opener, but the home side’s industry and effort guaranteed a pleasing start to the club’s centenary celebrations. Whether Pools can crown their 100th season with a promotion campaign if Wilson is unable to make further summer signings, however, remains to be seen.

Newcastle’s target this season will be European qualification, and Keegan was able to name a strong Newcastle line-up yesterday despite the absence of England international Michael Owen, who is nursing a minor calf problem, and new signing Jonas Guttierez, who is still short of fitness following his summer move from Real Mallorca.

But for all their Premier League experience, Newcastle’s players were largely outplayed during an entertaining opening that saw a Hartlepool side containing summer signing Ritchie Jones carve out a number of early chances.

Robson was unable to convert the first, dragging an eighth-minute shot wide of the target, but the Pools winger was more clinical when a second opportunity presented itself eight minutes later.

Joel Porter’s through ball left makeshift right-back David Edgar in no-man’s land, and Robson cut inside intelligently before chipping a neat finish over fit-again goalkeeper Shay Given.

Newcastle almost responded immediately – Pools goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett had to be at his most alert to thwart Charles N’Zogbia as the French midfielder sashayed into the box – but with Hartlepool enjoying their third pre-season run-out in contrast to the Magpies’ first, the visitors’ rustiness took time to disappear.

Nevertheless, Newcastle were back on level terms five minutes before half-time as Duff confirmed his well-being after the summer break. James Milner’s through ball caught the Pools defence napping and Duff, playing on the right wing instead of his preferred left, curled a deft 16-yard shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Ben Clark prevented things getting worse for the hosts moments later when he cleared Obafemi Martins’ scuffed effort off the line, but the reprieve proved a temporary one as Newcastle raced into a 3-1 lead within eight minutes of the break.

Duff, who had switched flanks, grabbed his second goal of the game in the 52nd minute, latching onto another well-judged Milner through ball and prodding past an onrushing Lee-Barrett. And Guthrie opened his Magpies account less than 60 seconds later, firing home a 20-yard effort that took a hefty deflection off Clark.

The former Bolton loanee has not been signed as a goalscorer, but given Newcastle’s lack of goals from the central area last season, his willingness to shoot from distance will be welcome.

His effort preceded a dreadful miss from fellow substitute Shola Ameobi – the unsettled striker missed the ball completely with Lee-Barrett on the floor and the goal at his mercy – and Keegan used the final minutes of the game to hand first senior appearances to Ben Tozer, Fraser Forster and Callum Morris.

That ensured something of a disrupted finish, but there was still time for Duff to complete his hat-trick.

Having played an intricate one-two with Ameobi, the former Chelsea and Blackburn winger curled home another eye-catching finish from ten yards.

HARTLEPOOL (4-4-2): Lee-Barrett, McCunnie (Foley 65), Collins (Nelson 69), Clark, Humphreys, Sweeney, Jones (Boland 65), Liddle (Power 82), Robson (Monkhouse 76), Brown (Mackay 85), Porter (Barker 76). Subs (not used): Budtz, Rowell.

NEWCASTLE (4-4-2): Given (Forster 65), Edgar (Tozer 63), Cacapa (Morris 72), Taylor, Enrique (Guthrie 46), Duff, Butt, Milner, N’Zogbia, Martins (Amoebi 46), Smith. Subs (not used): Danquah, Morris, Doninger, Godsmark, Lough. Attendance: 4,249.