Southampton England Under-16 international ends Newcastle United Under-23s' play-off hopes with stunning hat-trick

The 16-year-old scored three carbon-copy goals from outside the box in the opening 45 minutes before Jimmy Jay Morgan made it 4-0 in the second half.

Dylan Stephenson and Isaac Westendorf pulled goals back for the hosts in the closing stages to see the match end 4-2.

Southampton were reduced to 10 men in the second half as Ramello Mitchell was shown a straight red card for violent conduct.

It was a match Newcastle needed to win in order to remain in with a chance of finishing in the top five. Lead player development coach Elliot Dickman called 30-year-old goalkeeper Mark Gillespie up to the side for his first Under-23s league outing of the season.

But it took Southampton just six minutes to find a breakthrough as Dibling’s edge of the box strike neatly found the bottom right corner.

The Young Magpies responded with a chance of their own at the other end but Lucas De Bolle’s ambitious half-volley curled wide of the right post.

Ramello Mitchell almost doubled Southampton’s advantage after wrong-footing Remi Savage and Josh Scott inside the penalty area before firing wide.

Dibling then grabbed his and The Saints' second of the evening with a near identical goal to his opener before completing a first-half hat-trick with yet another 20-yard effort.

At 3-0 down, Newcastle had a mountain to climb to keep their season alive and they managed to show some fight after the break.

Tom Allan twice came close to pulling a goal back for United before the hour mark as the hosts finally started to put Southampton under a bit of pressure.

But Southampton wrapped the game up on the break as another 16-year-old, Morgan, made it 4-0 with a confidence dinked finish over Gillespie.

The visitors were then reduced to 10 in the closing stages as Mitchell raised his hands at Jay Turner-Cooke.

Allan again came close to pulling a goal back but was brilliantly denied by Harry Lewis in the Southampton goal.

An angled finish from substitute Dylan Stephenson made it 4-1 before Isaac Westendorf pulled back another to make the scoreline more respectable late on.

Six minutes of added time saw Newcastle make the most of their numerical advantage with Westendorf coming close yet again but Southampton’s defence stood firm and withstood the pressure.

A fourth straight defeat for Dickman’s side means they now head into this weekend’s final game of the season at Aston Villa with nothing but pride to play for.

An improvement on last-season’s bottom of the table finish but still plenty of room for improvement.

NUFC U23s: Gillespie; Oliver, Scott, Stanton, Brookwell, Savage, Allan, De Bolle, Westendorf, Turner-Cooke, Wilson (Stephenson 73)

NUFC U23s subs: Wiggett, Thompson, Carlyon, Munoz, Stephenson

Southampton U23s: Lewis; Payne, Small, Tizzard, Lancashire, Bragg, Morgan (Pearce 73), Turner, Mitchell, Dibling (Otseh-Taiwo 80), Olaigbe (Finnigan 46)

Southampton U23s subs: Finnigan, Hall, Pearce, Otseh-Taiwo, Lawrence

Attendance: 638

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