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English Premier League club Newcastle United made a successful start to their New Zealand tour on Tuesday with an emphatic 4-0 win against Sydney FC at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
They had too much pace on the flanks and too much organisation in defence for the Sky Blues, who had their moments but lacked the class and control of their opposition.
Newcastle clinched victory with three goals in the space of 15 minutes during the first half.
The teams wore black armbands and there was a minute’s silence before kick-off for Newcastle fans John Alder and Liam Sweeney, who were killed in the MH17 crash in Ukraine.
Newcastle played in their away strip of grey rather than their traditional black and white and received a rousing welcome from the Toon fans in the crowd of more than 10,000.
Massadio Haidara had the first shot on goal after eight minutes but Sydney goalkeeper and captain Ivan Necevski managed to get his body behind the ball to block the chance.
But Newcastle did open the scoring 10 minutes later after a howler from Necevski, who failed to clear his own goal with a speculator. Emmanuel Riviere passed back to Dutch striker Siem de Jong who casually stroked the ball into the net.
It became 2-0 seven minutes later when Riviere tapped the ball into the net past Necevski after a relentless attack led by de Jong and Yoan Gouffran.
The attack continued and Newcastle increased their lead to 3-0 after 33 minutes when right-back Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa rifled a left-footed shot into the net, the ball deflecting off a Sydney defender.
Newcastle were the much more-creative team and deserved their 3-0 halftime lead which could have been 4-0 had de Jong succeeded with a narrowly missed free-kick.
The Magpies had the first chance in the second half but Harris Vuckic’s shot cleared the crossbar.
Sydney, under new coach Graham Arnold, had their first genuine chance 19 minutes after the break but Corey Gameiro’s shot was saved by a diving Rob Elliott.
Newcastle closed the game out in style when substitute Adam Armstrong slipped the ball past the ‘keeper in the 83rd minute to make it 4-0.
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