Four-Goal Maddison Makes His Marc

By Dan King

Modest Marcus Maddison played down his role in Newcastle's 6-2 FA Youth Cup win at Dulwich Hamlet, despite hitting four goals in his first game in the competition.

The 17-year-old forward from Trimdon, in County Durham, went home with the matchball as United recovered from going a goal behind at Champion Hill to cruise into the fourth round of the tournament.

But he insisted he couldn't have achieved his four-goal haul without the rest of the team, with the likes of Ben Sayer and Patrick Nzuzi supplying chance after chance for Maddison and his striker partners Ryan McGorrigan and Aaron Spear, who also helped themselves to a goal apiece.

"I was really happy, but it was all about the team really," said Maddison as he spoke to nufc.co.uk after the final whistle. "We all played well - it was a great team performance.

"You couldn't single anybody out, it was just an all-round great performance by the whole team.

"It was great to score four goals, but I just wanted to get through to the next round. That was the most important thing, the team doing well, and thankfully I did well too."

The game survived a 6pm pitch inspection after a day of heavy rain in South London, and United found themselves a goal behind early on before running riot in the second half.

And left-footer Maddison admitted: "I was pleased it was on, because we were all a bit worried before the game.

"Even when we went behind I knew we'd come back. I knew our talent would show through in the end."