Pre-Season Friendly: Motherwell 2 Newcastle 4

Newcastle kicked off their pre-season campaign in style as they overcame Motherwell 4-2 at Fir Park on Tuesday.

Goals from Haris Vuckic, Yoan Gouffran, Moussa Sissoko and Sylvain Marveaux gave them the perfect start to their warm-up fixtures in what proved a competitive run out against the Scottish Premier League side.

Boss Alan Pardew named a strong team that contained four full internationals in the shape of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Vurnon Anita, Sissoko and Vuckic and the visitors took little time to impose themselves on the match, with 20-year-old Vuckic opening their account after only eight minutes.

And it soon got better for Newcastle when the Slovenian midfielder shone again six minutes later, feeding Gouffran who eased the ball home past goalkeeper Lee Hollis.

Motherwell hit back via a thumping effort from Iain Vigurs, but Sissoko restored his side’s advantage when he fired home six minutes before the break to make it 3-1.

The home side refused to lay down and former Everton forward James McFadden added their second from the penalty spot after Sissoko was adjudged to have fouled Stuart Carswell.

However, Marveaux finally ended Motherwell’s hopes of a comeback when he converted a brilliant low cross from Paul Dummett just past the hour mark to seal the win for the Premier League side.

Newcastle will now take in a tour of Portugal as part of their preparations, where they will face Rio Ave on July 20 and Pacos de Ferreira three days later.