"Positives and negatives" for Thompson following Tyne-Tees stalemate

The young Magpies created numerous goalscoring opportunities during the Division Two encounter at St. James' Park, with Jay Turner-Cooke going close in the first-half with two shots in succession before substitute Michael Ndiweni struck the post in the final 45 minutes.

Thompson produced a vital save in the closing stages to ultimately secure Newcastle's first clean sheet at under-21 level since August before Ben Dawson's side were later denied a penalty after Lewis Miley's strike was blocked by Bryant Bilongo inside the box, despite the ball appearing to strike the Boro full-back's arm.

The teenage goalkeeper, a representative of England at under-18 level, told nufc.co.uk: "There's positives and negatives. We kept a clean sheet, which is a positive for myself and the backline as we haven't had one in the league for a while.

"We were disappointed with the overall result, though, as we did have the chances to put the game to bed but we unfortunately couldn't take them to get the three points we wanted. 

"I felt we grew into the game after the opening 20 minutes, starting to then push on and it felt like we were the better team, creating more chances than our opponents.

"There are still positives, such as the clean sheet, and we go on from there. We haven't kept many this season so being able to get one, especially in a derby at St. James' Park, is a great feeling and is something we can use to push on with the aim of hopefully getting more."

Newcastle's second-string face a further two Premier League 2 fixtures before their 2022/23 campaign comes to an end, with United's youngsters hosting their Norwich City counterparts on Monday, 17th April before travelling to bottom-placed Derby County for their final league match of the current season.

Thompson, who joined the Magpies' Academy at the age of 11, is determined for Newcastle to end the season on a positive notes and believes the point recorded against Middlesbrough can stand them in good stead ahead of their remaining Division Two clashes.

The 18-year-old, who signed his first professional contract with his boyhood club in December 2021, added: "Everyone is looking for a strong end of the season as it can give you strong morale going into next season where our aim will be trying to gain automatic promotion or getting into the play-off spots.

"Tonight's result has put us in a good direction, even though we felt disappointed we couldn't take three as we had the chances to do so."