Brazilian Mag bags hat-trick and summer signing scores in Newcastle U21s thriller

With the young Magpies without a win since early November, a big three points against Aston Villa was a welcome result for interim boss Robbie Stockdale.

Having seen a good chunk of our U-21 stars sent out loan or kept on the periphery of the senior squad in recent weeks, could Ferreira be playing himself into consideration for Eddie Howe calling him up to train with the first team soon?

Here’s how things panned out on Friday night at Bodymoor Heath:

A managerless Newcastle United U21s got off to the perfect start against the young Villans, as we raced into a 3-0 lead away from home inside the opening 15 minutes.

Ferriera grabbed an early brace, either side of Park Seung-soo grabbing his first goal for the club since his summer arrival from Suwon Samsung Bluewings: some dream displays from the two teenagers.

Things looked a tad shaky towards the end of the first half however, as the hosts managed to pull two goals back on the stroke of half time to make it 3-2 heading into the break.

Ferreira was very impressive in our recent FA Youth Cup game for the U-18s when he netted a hat trick, and he grabbed his third goal for the night not long after the restart with another penalty.

Alfie Lynskey pulled one back for Villa in the 58th minute to make it 4-3 to us with half an hour left to play, but we stayed resolute and held on to give Stockdale the first win since Adam Lawrence’s departure.

Another big moment from Friday night’s game came when Stockdale handed rising star Michael Mills his U-21 debut for the final quarter of an hour, with the 16-year-old replacing Seung-soo.

Also featuring on the pitch last night was the much-talked about Mason Miley: just days after training with members of the first team at Darsley Park, the 17-year-old younger brother of Lewis played the full 90 minutes of the huge win.