Oliver excited for St. James' test

The young Magpies, currently sitting in seventh place of Division Two on 32 points, aim to move into the Division Two play-off spots with a much-needed three points against their Baggies counterparts on Monday night (kick-off 7pm BST). 

Oliver, who signed his first professional contract with his boyhood club last summer, is looking forward to playing at the iconic ground whilst bidding to swiftly return to winning ways following last week's 2-1 defeat against Stoke City. 

"We've got quite a few Newcastle lads in the team," the South Shields-born youngster told nufc.co.uk. "We've played a few times at the stadium recently and it's a completely different occasion compared to playing at Whitley Park.  

"There's more fans there, the pitch is massive and there's plenty of space to play on. I've supported the first-team since I was a kid and playing on the same pitch as they do is a big occasion and something that doesn't happen very often."

"We're very determined to bounce back, especially after the game against Stoke. We felt like we had a lot of misfortune with the red card and Stoke scoring just before the break but I thought we deserved something out of the game.

"We know we certainly can win against West Brom, we're confident of that, but if we can play like we did in the second-half against Stoke but with eleven men, we should be fine.

"We can take a lot of encouragement from our second-half performance with ten men. Their (Stoke's) coach told us we were the better team with ten men, which is a big compliment. If we can play like that with eleven against West Brom at St. James', we'll be fine on the night at St. James'."

Newcastle's youngsters lie one point adrift of the play-off spots with six league fixtures remaining in the 2021/22 campaign.

United's second-string may have games in hand over opponents currently occupying the top five positions but Oliver, who has made 14 competitive appearances at under-23 level this season, is determined to take adavntage.

"The play-off spots are really tight at the minute," the 19-year-old right-back added. "There's quite a few teams involved and we have two games in hand which is important but it's also important that we win them.

"There's no point having those games in hand unless you win them so doing that would put us in a good spot, certainly putting us up there to compete in the play-offs. 

"As soon as you get into the play-off spots, the motivation to keep yourself there has to be there too. There's no point getting in but then fading out, you have to make sure you stay there. It's massive."

Supporters will be able to attend Monday's Premier League 2 clash at St. James' Park, with season ticket holders gaining free admission otherwise it's £3 for adults and £1 concessions.