Practice Makes Perfect For Deadly Dan

By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor

Practice made perfect for Dan Barlaser on Friday afternoon as the youngster scored his first goal of the season.

And the England Under-19 international later revealed he had no doubt that he would open the scoring in the under-21s' 2-1 home victory over Wolves.

With 24 minutes on the clock at the Magpies' Training Centre, Barlaser received Callum Roberts' through ball, shaped to shoot, dummied visiting keeper Jon Flatt and rounded the stopper before slotting home.

It was the sort of finish you would associate with seasoned striker, not a rookie midfielder, but Barlaser told nufc.co.uk it is a regular occurence on the training pitch.

"I didn't think I was going to score from where I was playing, at right-back," he said.

"But I managed to bomb forward, took it past the keeper and scored.

"I always back myself in those one-on-one situations and do that all the time in training, so when I went through I knew I was going to score.

"It was a really good win. It was a good team performance and after the couple of defeats we had it was much-needed. We deserved it.

"Their goal was a bit lucky, with two or three deflections on the way through, but we kept believing and we got what we deserved in the end.

"We were the better team, we had the better chances and got the three points."

A midfielder by trade, Barlaser found himself at right-back against Wolves, with Jamie Sterry and Kevin Mbabu both currently part of the first-team squad.

But he has no qualms about being deployed elsewhere and sees it as part of his footballing education.

"Playing at full-back I get the ball a lot and am able to still get forward, so I don't mind playing there at all," he continued.

"As long as I'm in the team, I'm happy to play wherever it's needed.

"And playing in a number of positions is great experience for me - it can only help my development."