Seventh heaven for O'Carroll as young Magpies secure play-off berth | OneFootball

The young Magpies netted twice in the first half at St. James' Park, courtesy of impressive goals from Garang Kuol and Alfie Harrison, before the Royals halved the deficit shortly after the restart following Basil Tuma's strike.

United's second-string, however, restored their two-goal cushion in swift fashion through Leo Shahar's first goal for the club at under-21 level before Jay Turner-Cooke's penalty and late strikes from Johnny Emerson, Kuol and Joe Brayson rounded off an emphatic victory, sealing their play-off spot with a game to spare.

O'Carroll, who joined the Magpies in September 2024 after told newcastleunited.com: "It's a fantastic achievement from the boys. They've been brilliant since I've came in, winning nine from our last 15 league games, and it's a credit to them for how they work everyday.

"The team has got younger, with outgoing loans in January, and it was a challenging period after Christmas but the lads have bounced back. There was a maturity to what we did in the second half. We were disappointing at times in the first half in terms of how we played but we got two good goals and that's the level of quality we have in the team.

"I wanted more and they knew that so they went out and had a much more complete performance. They didn't stop or get lazy and they could have had more. We look forward to next week against Manchester City, which will be a tough test, but we want to keep going and build towards the play-offs."

Kuol's brace took his goalscoring tally to eight in his last eleven competitive matches at under-21 level, with the Australia international also registering two assists and winning the penalty, converted by Turner-Cooke.

O'Carroll expressed his delight in the 20-year-old's purple patch in front of goal for United's second-string after suffering a quad injury during pre-season which saw the highly-rated youngster sidelined for the majority of the first half of the 2024/25 campaign.

"I've loved working with Garang," the Irish coach added. "He's been a joy for me to work with and he's got real quality. He's got that spark that could go to a very high level.

"There's other parts of his game that he can work on and he knows that, which we work on daily and see different things he can improve on, but it's been a big few months for him.

"He had a tough couple of years in terms of his loans and moving across the world but I think he's coming back to what he can be. Once he gets back into a first-team environment, I think you'll see the goals fly in for him which would be fantastic."

Following a fourth league win in a row, Newcastle's youngsters are currently situated in ninth place of the 26-team division and will be aiming to secure a place in the division's top eight, ensuring a home draw in the play-offs, with a positive result against Manchester City at the City Football Academy on Monday night.

O'Carroll, also a senior coach for Northern Ireland, is hopeful his young squad can continue their positive form against the league leaders, who will secure top spot with a victory.

He added: "We have put ourselves in a very strong position but we know if we finish eighth or higher, we're guaranteed we will not travel to London or have an overnight stay which can make it more difficult, even logistically with people training up at the first-team.

"If we can try and get a result, it would keep the momentum going but it won't be a do or die for us and a case of building towards it, putting together a tactical plan and see how we go.

"We recognise they are very good and they need to win to finish in top spot but that's a test the lads should want."