Carlyon targeting valiant EFL Trophy display

The young Magpies travel to Vale Park for their second Group B fixture of the 2023/24 campaign, aiming to keep their hopes of reaching the last 32 of the competition for the first time since 2018/19 on course.

United’s second-string are currently unbeaten in their last four competitive matches, all resulting in draws and Carlyon is expecting a strong battle against the League One side, who currently sit top of Group B following a 1-0 win against Crewe Alexandra.

The 21-year-old midfielder, who joined the Magpies' youth set-up at the age of nine, told nufc.co.uk: “I think the (EFL Trophy) games are ones we always look forward to in terms of seeing how well we do against a more physical and experienced side.

“I think it’ll be good for the under-21s because we’ve been in a good run of form, playing some good football and we just need to try and convert the draws into wins.

“Ultimately, you’re playing against men so they’ll be a lot more physical and we need to expect they could play a certain style of football, whether that’s route one or playing long balls, so we have to be aware of that test.

“Playing in this competition, you have to think a lot quicker, taking one or two touches and then trying to work your way into the game as such. It’s always a good test to see your fitness levels too. It’s still quite early in the season but these games are very important to see where you are physically and mentally and if you could be up to that challenge already."

Newcastle’s youngsters kicked off their EFL Trophy campaign with a 1-0 defeat against Wrexham in front of just under 8,000 supporters at the Racecourse Ground in September.

Despite the narrow loss against the League Two outfit, Carlyon - who signed his first professional contract with his boyhood club in the summer of 2021 - reflected positively on the previous cup encounter and is hopeful Newcastle’s under-21 side can show a “clinical” edge in front of goal in order to secure a first competitive win since August.

The Durham-born youngster added: “From our first game at Wrexham, I think having a few fans there pushes you on a bit more and you want to try and impress, playing well as a team. We’ll be playing at a good stadium on a good pitch and we’ll want to go and get the result to go with it.

“That’s been one of our main targets this season, trying to be more clinical, and we’d probably get more results especially against Wrexham. I thought we worked our way into that match and we were arguably the more dominant side, creating the better chances.

“In those four games, we’ve been quite dominant in possession and could have had them out of sight. In terms of being more clinical, we’ll be aiming to do that on Tuesday night."