Gallacher hoping youngsters can build on cup momentum

The Magpies sit just a place off the bottom of the table ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Stoke City (7pm kick-off), having lost all four of their league fixtures since the start of the New Year.

But, with two months of the campaign to run, United’s youngsters remain on course for a treble elsewhere. Already through to the final of the Northumberland Senior Cup and the last four of the Premier League International Cup, they continued their progress in another competition by beating AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League Cup on Friday.

For now, though, their focus is very much on the quest to improve their league placing. Gallacher struck the decisive goal against Wednesday’s opponents on the opening day of the campaign, and the wide-man believes that heading into the game with an upbeat mindset will be key to their chances of seeing off the Potters for a second time.

“We played Stoke at the start of the season and won, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again – we just need to think positive, play football, stick to our tactics and what the coach says and we should be able to get the win,” he told nufc.co.uk.

“In all of the cups, we seem to have done pretty well. We’ve got a final in the Northumberland Senior Cup, and we’ve got Porto coming up in the International Cup. I don’t know why it’s happened like that – I think with the run of games we’ve had, playing at stadiums, it’s just a big occasion. I don’t know why we’re not performing as well in the league but hopefully with the games left to come we can use the games in the cup to give us a bit of motivation in the league, as well.”

Gallacher played the opening 75 minutes of United’s 3-2 victory over Bournemouth, in which the Magpies twice came from behind to book their place in the last eight.

In the process, they had to adapt to truly atrocious weather conditions – with the cold, wet and wind all taking hold at the club’s Benton training base on Friday afternoon.

“It was a bit of a horrible game but we were pleased to get it on. Obviously the pitch at Blue Flames was flooded so the (venue) got changed. We knew with the wind and all the rain coming that we had to keep it along the floor and keep playing football as much as we could, and I think we did that,” Gallacher said.

“We were the better team but they scored first, but obviously we got back into it and managed to get the win in the end.”

Admission on Wednesday night is free for season ticket holders and members - otherwise it's £3 for adults and £1 concessions