Newcastle United Under-21s fell to a 1-0 home defeat against Middlesbrough on Friday night.

Newcastle United Under-21s lead coach Adam Lawrence bemoaned familiar failings as his side fell to a late defeat against Premier League 2 rivals Middlesbrough.

The Magpies youngsters were without the likes of Leo Shahar, Alex Murphy and Sean Neave as the trio continue to form part of Eddie Howe’s first-team squad and striker Ben Parkinson was also unavailable as he closes in on a move to Scottish Premiership club Falkirk. That provided opportunities for several of the younger members of Lawrence’s ranks as former Southend United forward Kacey Wooster lead the forward line and highly-rated winger Matheos Ferriera was handed another chance to shine.

It was Ferreira that looked to most likely of the Magpies player to find a breakthrough as he created several promising openings and tested Boro goalkeeper Shea Connor on three occasions. However, it was the visitors that appeared to have the edge in attacking areas with Sonny Finch going close three times in quick succession during the second-half as the young Magpies lived on the edge with the closing stages approaching.

A disputed free-kick led to the decisive moment of the game as Frankie Coulson converted from close range after Newcastle failed to deal with a ball into their area and that was enough to give Boro a win and leave Lawrence to assess the lack of confidence and quality in key areas for his own side.

He said: “I think overall it was a game that felt like a nil-nil game. It’s obviously disappointing to lose the game in that way. I don’t like talking about decisions and referees too much but I didn’t think it was a foul in the first place. Charlie has won the first one and then he’s won the second one and I just think it was a really soft free-kick - but at the same time, you’ve got to defend that situation.

“So it felt like a nil-nil game and to be honest our feeling around the game would be very similar if it finished nil-nil in terms of you feel the team has been competitive, there’s not been much in the game and tonight we created enough situations to score from but we were found lacking in the final third. It’s similar to where we have been lacking of late and it’s just a little bit of confidence, that bit of quality, decision-making in and around the final third has ultimately meant we have finished the game without scoring.”

Newcastle United U21s: Ad Harrison, C Thompson, Charlton, McArthur, Pivas, Finneran, Fitzgerald, Bailey, Wooster, Al Harrison, Ferreira Subs: Taylor, Watts, Yildiz, Alabi, Hutchison

Middlesbrough U21s: Connor, Dede, Patterson-Powell, Samuels, Baptiste, Daley, Greenup, Johnson, Campbell, Finch, Coulson Subs: Lloyd, Carbon, Acheampong, Kakai, James

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