Fabricio Coloccini trained ahead of his welcome return to action against Stoke on Wednesday, and despite three successive defeats the players have remained upbeat at their Benton base.

Under the watchful eye of Alan Pardew and his staff, the lads worked on possession but livened it up with a game of tag football but Papiss Cisse found himself chasing the ball for some time - then, much to everyone's amusement, quickly found himself 'it' again!

But there was a serious side too as United look to get back to winning ways at the Britannia, where they triumphed thanks to a Demba Ba hat-trick last season, and Ian Horrocks was there to bring nufc.co.uk this exclusive gallery.