Although Steve Bruce was appointed as head coach on Wednesday, the terms of his visa meant that he was at the game only as an observer, with Ben Dawson and Neil Redfearn again in the dugout.

But the new man in charge will have been delighted with what he saw at the Hongkou Stadium, with Yoshinori Muto scoring the only goal of the game to ensure the Magpies finished third in the tournament as Sean Longstaff made his return as a second-half substitute from the knee ligament injury which prematurely ended his breakthrough 2018/19 campaign.

Dwight Gayle and Paul Dummett were not risked due to knocks, but Martin Dúbravka and Fabian Schär came into the side while Danish teenager Elias Sørensen started up front.

And Sørensen nearly marked his full debut with a goal in the eighth minute. Shelvey's magnificent pass found Isaac Hayden, who strode forward on the right and crossed but Sørensen, sliding in and on the stretch, could not keep his effort down.

Three minutes later, the lively Muto saw a snapshot flash narrowly wide but, in the 34th minute, Shelvey and Hayden combined well again to work the ball to Jamie Sterry, whose inviting right-wing cross was cleverly finished first time by Japanese international Muto.

And at the end of a first period which was largely dominated by the Magpies, Muto picked out Shelvey but the latter's effort didn't have enough power to seriously test Lucasz Fabianski.

Both sides made several changes in the second period and in the 63rd minute, Felipe Anderson saw a powerful header from Robert Snodgrass' corner clip the top of the bar.

Longstaff then made his return, having suffered his season-ending injury against the same opponents at the London Stadium in March, before his younger brother Matthew also came from the bench to play alongside his sibling for the first time at senior level.

That special moment came after Jonjo Shelvey saw a goal ruled out for offside, and Javier Manquillo also came close to adding a second.

But one goal was enough for Newcastle, who will board the long flight back to Tyneside on Sunday buoyed by both the result and performance.