The joy of six for Young

Newcastle's second-string, requiring three points to confirm their place in the last 16, scored three times in the opening 45 minutes after Tom Allan's brace and Elliot Anderson's splendid solo finish gave the hosts comfortable breathing space at Whitley Park.

Despite Scunthorpe pulling two goals back through George Hornshaw and former Magpie Yasin Ben Al-Mhanni, Young's free kick along with goals from Yannick Touré and Oisín McEntee sealed Newcastle's place in the competition's knockout stages.

"First of all, we knew of the job we had to do - to win and get out of the group," the 19-year-old told nufc.co.uk. "We want to be playing as many games as possible this season. I thought the lads were excellent and you cannot complain when you score six goals. 

"We started off well and that has been something that we've working on. Over the last few games, we've been starting strongly and it gives us a springboard in the second half.

"Scunthorpe nearly got back into the game but the character we showed to keep us in the game was class. I think we have the quality of players to score at any time, especially with the pace we have out wide and the creativity we have got up the middle.

"We were confident in ourselves to keep plugging away and it came. We stayed solid at the back after conceding the two goals and knew if we kept the process right, we'd score more goals.

"It's took a bit of time but we are starting to really come together and the results are backing what we are seeing on the training pitch."

Young, who signed his first professional contract with his boyhood club last summer, is aiming to go one better than Newcastle's youngsters managed in last term's tournament, who reached the final before their impressive run was ended by Everton at Goodison Park.

With Chris Hogg in attendance for the Premier League Cup clash, Young was delighted to score his second goal of the season, a curling free kick, in front of the newly-appointed under-23s head coach.

"Everyone is wanting to make a good impression," the midfielder added. "Hoggy hasn't changed much yet, as he's been observing, but what he's said is really good and has given us a lot of motivation and encouragement in wanting to play for him.

"As a team, we want to do well for him because he's came here wanting to do well and we're a big part of that. We all can't wait to get working with him.

"I think Tommy (Allan) took the first free kick and I was telling him if he misses, I get the next one! It's a bit of friendly competition in training and something I've been working on in training. I really want to put that into my game and I'm glad to see the work in training is coming out in a game with a goal, which is good.

"With the way we are playing at the minute, I think we can go all the way in the competition. We're thinking about it game by game but, obviously, the end target is to get into the final and go one better to show we are a better group than what we were last year.

"Everyone enjoys coming into training and it's better when we are winning. It was good to show what we can do in front of the new manager and I hope he's excited about what he's coming into. The morale is really good so if we keep going, we want to keep this unbeaten run going for as long as possible."