Dickman "disappointed" after derby day drama

The young Magpies led shortly after the half-hour mark in the Tyne-Wear derby courtesy of Joe White's strike as the Carlisle-born midfielder completed an impressive set-piece routine with Dylan Stephenson to net his third goal in as many Premier League 2 matches in front of over 2,500 spectators at St. James' Park.

Newcastle's youngsters, however, were reduced to ten men in the closing stages as Jay Turner-Cooke picked up two yellow cards in quick succession before the visitors levelled in the fourth minute of stoppage-time through Sunderland goalkeeper Alex Bass, although the Black Cats shot-stopper was adjudged to handle the ball into the net inside a crowded penalty area.

Reflecting on the late leveller, along with the full 90 minutes, Dickman told nufc.co.uk: "We're very disappointed. It's never nice to concede late, albeit we haven't lost the game. We've still drawn but because it's so late, we felt we could have seen the game out but unfortunately we didn't. It's a learning curve for the players and us all.

"I've had a look back and from my point of view, I think it is a handball. He (Bass) gets a free header, it hits the post, comes back and he bundles the ball over with the use of his arm.

"It might've happened too quickly for the referee to see but, looking back on the footage, no matter how slow or in real time it is, I'm not too sure they score if he doesn't bundle it across with his hand.

"We were good in the first-half, looking dangerous on the break. I think some of the things we worked on exposed their weaknesses and we exploited that to a point. A bit more care in the final third would have helped us, knowing when to pass or shoot and we might have got that a little bit wrong at times tonight. 

"The sending off disrupted us and made it really difficult but, because we had the lead, it was sort of let's see if we can see the game out. It felt like we were going to manage that but we didn't."

Despite the difficult setback, Newcastle extended their unbeaten run in the Premier League 2 to six matches and face an away trip to Leeds United, currently occupying top spot in Division Two, in their final league fixture of 2022 on Monday, 7th November before ending the calendar year with six successive Premier League Cup Group E fixtures.

With the young Magpies moving into fifth place in 14 points, Dickman reflected positively on the under-21s' campaign so far and hopes for his side to continue their bright spell with focus on gaining promotion to Division One undoubtedly a key target for the group this term.

He added: "We've done quite well in the league and I've been relatively pleased but there's still a lot of areas that we want to try and develop. We are very committed to the games and working a lot harder, implementing a lot of things in terms of without the ball.

"With the ball, we've shown glimpses of good play at times and we want more of that. That is something we'll be working on between now and moving into the second-half of the season. 

"Leeds is our last league game of the calendar year and we have a Premier League Cup competition that we're in so it'll be a good opportunity to reinforce those habits and behaviours we want."