Canaries defeat was an opportunity missed, admits Peter

Luke Charman put United ahead at Whitley Park, but the game was turned on its head after the break as goals from Diallang Jaiyesimi and Ebou Adams won it for the visitors.

And football development manager Beardsley said his charges were well aware that they’d let a great chance to pick up some points on their own patch pass them by.

“There’s massive frustration, because we knew in terms of the play-offs that it was in our hands,” he told nufc.co.uk. “It’s still in our hands, but they’ve had a great season and we don’t want it to peter out. We don’t want it to just fade away.

“They’re all disappointed, and they know – they’ve got to a level now where they know when they’ve underperformed. They’re not stupid – they know.

“They’ve missed an opportunity, because they would have been three points closer to the play-offs and now, it might be a bit more difficult, and we’ve got to play two of the teams that are up there.

“They don’t need to be told they’ve had a bad night or a bad performance. There’s no shouting, there’s no nastiness, there’s no aggressiveness – there’s no need.

“It’s still in our hands, but now it’s more difficult than it needed to be. We might need a favour along the way, but I think ultimately if we get six points out of the next nine, we’ll be OK.”

The Magpies have the chance to bounce back when West Ham United arrive on Tyneside for the Premier League 2 Division Two clash next Monday night.

And with the game set to be played under the lights at St. James’ Park, Beardsley reckons his youngsters have the ideal ‘pick-me-up’ in the pipeline.

“The great thing is for them, in my opinion, is that they have St. James’ Park to look forward to next Monday,” he said.

“For them, it’s the perfect pick-me-up. We’ve had a disappointment, we’ll get over it, and get back to real work in terms of preparation. We’ll review it tomorrow and put it to bed, and then move on and get ready for West Ham.

“We played West Ham at St. James’ last season; it was a great game and it could have gone either way, and hopefully this one will be the same. They’re good people at West Ham and I look forward to seeing them, but hopefully we get the result that we want.

“For me, even as a coach, to stand on the line at St. James’ is special – really, really special. I get a buzz out of it, and it’s fantastic for the staff.

“It’s something we aspire to. For the kids, it’s what they should dream of. If you’re a Newcastle fan, that is the ultimate – there is nothing better than that.”