The young Magpies conceded twice inside the opening seven minutes, following Dominic Ballard’s brace, but led before the half-time whistle following Amadou Diallo’s penalty and strikes from Ben Parkinson and Charlie McArthur in an eventful first-half at the Little Benton Academy.

Jay Turner-Cooke, introduced from the substitutes’ bench, netted a brace in the closing stages and despite Magpies skipper Nathan Carlyon’s red card, picking up two bookable offences, and Ballard completing his hat-trick in stoppage-time, Newcastle’s youngsters ultimately prevailed in an eight-goal thriller.

“It’s always nice (to get off to a winning start), especially against a very good team who won the league last year in the division we were in,” Dawson told nufc.co.uk. "Getting off the mark with three points is really important for the group.

“They’ve worked ever so hard in pre-season and had some really tough games which is what we planned for, playing those senior games to give the lads more of a senior games programme and what it’s going to be like in the real world which will better them for the league that we're in.

“Early on, it could have quite easily got away from us but I thought the lads showed great resilience and character to dig in and we started to play our game at our intensity and I think we got the benefits of that.

“We spoke in the dressing room beforehand about starting the game quickly and playing at our intensity as we try to do across the club from the first-team right down to the under-9s. It needs to be part of what we do.

"The first 20 minutes was unacceptable but they managed to turn it around with some good bits of quality and individual play and, being critical, we could’ve been a bit more ruthless in front of goal but then so could they.”

Dawson was pleased with the contributions of goalscoring duo Parkinson, who made his first-team debut for his boyhood club in a pre-season victory against Gateshead last month, and McArthur, who made his professional debut for hometown club Kilmarnock at the age of 16 before joining the Magpies last summer.

After netting twice within 10 minutes of his introduction from the bench, Dawson also highlighted Turner-Cooke's positive cameo towards securing maximum points against the Saints’ second-string.

The 42-year-old coach added: “Ben is in a really good moment having been with the first-team for pre-season. He’s now in that position where he’s come back to the under-21s and I think he’s said it himself that he almost has to try twice as hard and prove to everybody he deserves the opportunities to keep going back up there.

“It was nice to see Charlie back out on the pitch. He’s had some really bad injury issues over the last couple of years so to see him get so many minutes was nice and hopefully gives us a bit more strength in depth for the season ahead.

“It was nice for Jay to come on and score two goals, having the impact that he did. I know he was disappointed at not starting the game which most people are when they’re not in the starting eleven but he came on with the right attitude and worked hard. It’s the best way to make the impact when you are coming on and try to prove the manager wrong!"