Eddie Howe 'heaped praise' on Newcastle United's youngsters after personally watching their FA Youth Cup win against Colchester United on Monday night.
The young Magpies made it into the last 16 of the competition following a 3-2 victory against a talented Colchester side, who knocked Arsenal out in the previous round.
Howe, his staff, Paul Dummett, Sean Longstaff and Matty Longstaff were among more than 1,200 spectators watching on at St James' Park as the under-18s dug deep after suffering injuries to Callum McNally, Josh Stewart and Jay Tuner-Cooke on the night.
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Newcastle will now face Blackpool in the fifth round and boss Peter Ramage was delighted to see so many figures from the senior set-up supporting his side.
"The manager's just been in, which is a massive lift for the boys," the under-18s' lead coach told NUFC TV. "I've just been talking to Matty and Sean in there as well.
"All the staff here watching the boys is great for them. You might only get one opportunity to impress the manager and he's come in and heaped praise on them for their performance and rightly so."
Howe has made a conscious effort to watch the club's under-age sides train at various points since taking charge in November and the Newcastle boss has also invited some of the academy's top prospects to train with the first team as he keeps a close eye on the next generation coming through.
The club's owners, like Howe, are well-aware of the need to strengthen the first-team squad in the transfer market, but they also want to redevelop the academy and have more local youngsters play for Newcastle in the future.
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