By Craig Hope

ALAN Thompson believes that Nile Ranger's first strike of the season for Newcastle United Reserves should give the youngster the confidence to break his scoring duck on the senior stage.

The livewire frontman's last goal came during a pre-season friendly at Shamrock Rovers in July and, despite racking up 15 first-team outings since making his debut on the opening day at West Brom, he is yet to find the back of the net for Chris Hughton's men.

But Ranger was back among the goals on Tuesday as Thompson's second-string slipped to a narrow 3-2 defeat against an experienced Celtic side in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Benton.

And coach Thompson told nufcTV: "I think that's Nile's first goal for a while so hopefully that will give him a little bit of confidence.

"When he's been in the first team he's been doing tremendously well in his build-up play, hold-up play and his aerial threat - he just needs to start adding goals.

"But if he can do that then Nile will be a big threat for us at first-team level."