Campbell's Delight At Stadium Strike

By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Adam Campbell scored his first goal at Newcastle's famous stadium to help United's youngsters beat Darlington in the FA Youth Cup - then insisted the Magpies can win the competition.

The 16-year-old grabbed the third goal of a 3-0 win at the Sports Direct Arena, finding the roof of the net following Dennis Knight's short free-kick, and it's a goal that he will always treasure.

A boyhood Newcastle fan, he still follows his heroes home and away whenever he can and, on the evidence of his displays for the under-18s this season, his goal at the Gallowgate End could be the first of many.

England youth international Campbell was making his first start on the hallowed turf, having appeared as a substitute in last season's Youth Cup win over Grimsby, and told nufc.co.uk: "To score at the stadium is a dream come true, so I'm over the moon with that."

It was a seventh goal of the season for the diminutive forward, whose best position is just behind a main striker, and rounded off a good evening for Dave Watson's side.

They are now safely through to the fourth round after Remie Streete gave Newcastle the lead on 28 minutes before Marcus Maddison added a second on 71 minutes and Campbell wrapped up the scoring.

"With the way we've started the season, confidence was high going into the game and I suppose most people expected us to win," Campbell admitted. "So it was up to us to go out and prove that we were the better team, and I think we did that.

"I thought in the first half, Darlo started very well - and, especially at the start of the second half, they piled the pressure on as well. But I think they sort of ran out of steam, and our class showed at the end.

"Remie's goal settled everyone down and calmed the nerves, and gave everyone the freedom and the confidence to get on the ball. It was the confidence boost we needed. He's captain, and he led by example."

Winger Maddison marked his goal by running half the length of the field to celebrate in front of the travelling Darlington fans, who had jeered him for what some of them deemed to be a dive in the first half.

And Campbell, whose own strike came three minutes later, smiled: "Marcus likes making enemies, put it that way! He did it again on Thursday but at the end of the day he deserved his goal because he was top class. He was probably man of the match - no-one can say he didn't deserve it."

Last season, United went out of the competition to eventual winners Manchester United, while they were beaten in the two legged semi-final by Aston Villa the previous year. But Campbell is setting his sights even higher this time around.

"We want to win it, as simple as that," he insisted. "We want to go all the way. We think we're the best team in our league and we've played teams from the other leagues, who are top of their own tables, and we've beaten them as well. We really do think we can win it and we're very confident."