The temperature was well below zero on Thursday morning, but the atmosphere at Newcastle's Benton training ground was anything but frosty ahead of Saturday's game against Reading.

Despite the weather, the efforts of the groundstaff and the state-of-the-art facilities meant that the players could still train outdoors and they soon warmed up as they were put through their paces.

Steven Taylor once again trained, as did Yohan Cabaye, while Davide Santon was sporting an extreme new haircut - but many of his team-mates opted for warm headgear.

And making sure to wrap up warm was Club Photographer Ian Horrocks, who brought nufc.co.uk this exclusive gallery from a crisp and chilly day on North Tyneside.