Despite a promising start at Motspur Park, the Magpies trailed heading into the interval after Michael Elstone bundled the ball across the line deep into first-half stoppage time.

And, less than 30 seconds after the restart, United were left with a mountain to climb, squandering possession inside their own half and allowing Elijah Adebayo the chance to slot home the Cottagers’ second.

The home side added a third with 20 minutes to play, but Beardsley admitted that United's most damaging moment had already come and gone.

“At half time, you’re disappointed to be 1-0 down. No disrespect to Fulham – they played well after that – but at that stage, they didn’t deserve to be ahead,” he told nufc.co.uk. “We had some good situations but we didn’t work the goalie enough. But, to concede another one after 22 seconds of the second half is not acceptable, really. That is just a lack of concentration – a big mistake – though to be fair to the boy, he took it well. It’s just not what you expect.

“At 1-0 down you’re still very much in the game. Without being cheeky, we were the better team in the first half – no doubt about that – but once you go 2-0 down you run the risk of losing three or four, which is what we did. We lost a third but we could have lost more because we were obviously trying to get back into the game. I think they are getting to an age now where they should understand that, so it’s disappointing in that sense.”

The Magpies do not have long to wait before they take to the pitch again, with Wednesday’s visit of Swansea City – a Premier League Cup clash – continuing a hectic schedule in the run-up to the festive period.

“The great thing now is that we have six games before Christmas,” said Beardsley. “We play next Wednesday and the following Tuesday, so we can keep going. It might be an opportunity for one or two of the younger ones who haven’t had a game to get one.

“It’s not a case of making changes on what I’ve just seen, but to be fair, we have different competitions that we’re trying to get through in, we’re trying to help everybody, and we have a lot of players that we can’t always give game-time to. Ben (Dawson), Simon (Tweddle), Carl (Nelson), Haydn (Rockall), Chris (Terpcou) and I discuss it all the time. We’re always thinking ahead, we’re always thinking of the bigger picture, but it is what it is.”