The Magpies' new head coach had taken a watching brief as his side beat West Ham United in Shanghai seven days earlier, but was on the touchline here and will have taken plenty of positives from this friendly outing despite the result.

Jonjo Shelvey's strike was cancelled out by Gallagher's brace, but United created several opportunities - including a Miguel Almirón penalty, which was saved - while club record signing Joelinton made his bow from the bench and there was an eye-catching full debut for teenage midfielder Matty Longstaff.

Newcastle wore their new dark green away kit for the first time on a wet afternoon at Deepdale but the game took some time to come to life.

It took 24 minutes for the first chance to arrive, with Isaac Hayden trying his luck from 22 yards, but his shot flew just over with Declan Rudd at full stretch.

Then the North End netminder made a brilliant reaction save to deny Shelvey, who had met Matt Ritchie's clever cutback with a first time strike.

The resulting corner was flicked goalwards by Hayden, but again the goalkeeper's reflexes were impressive as he parried before Hayden stabbed the rebound wide from a tight angle.

At the other end, home captain Tom Clarke saw a half-volley deflected just wide by a last-ditch Fabian Schär block, but Newcastle continued to dominate and Longstaff was next to threaten, but his diving header was easily dealt with by Rudd.

However in the 39th minute, Rudd blotted his copybook. Schär was fouled 30 yards from goal after a strong run from defence and Shelvey's powerful, swerving free kick was parried into his own net by the former Norwich keeper.

Then on the stroke of half time, Longstaff won the ball in midfield and slipped in Yoshinori Muto, but the Japanese international saw his effort blocked by Ben Davies.

Joelinton came on at the break and his first involvement was to cleverly spin past his marker before he was brought down in the box. Fellow substitute Almirón stepped up to take the penalty, but Rudd dived to his right to save well.

Preston responded with a low shot from Alan Browne, which Freddie Woodman held, while for Newcastle, Jacob Murphy saw a left-wing cross deflected just off target as the hour mark approached.

But in the 60th minute, Clarke's cross struck the arm of Jamie Sterry, who knew very little about it, and referee Michael Salisbury pointed to the spot for the second time. Paul Gallagher made no mistake, as he rifled the ball past Woodman. ​

Then, having won a spot-kick of his own earlier, Joelinton conceded one in the 71st minute, with the Brazilian adjudged to have fouled Patrick Bauer, who scored Charlton's winner against Sunderland in the League One play-off final in May. Again, Gallagher proved to be clinical from the spot, leaving Woodman with no chance despite the goalkeeper going the right way.

Jack Colback could have levelled after running onto Sean Longstaff's raking pass but, not for the first time, Rudd saved. He had more than made amends for his part in Newcastle's goal as his side came out on top.

Preston North End: Declan Rudd, Tom Clarke (c), Andrew Hughes, Ben Pearson, Patrick Bauer, Ben Davies, Tom Barkhuizen, Paul Gallagher, Sean Maguire, Alan Browne, Brad Potts

Subs not used: Michael Crowe, Louis Moult, Joe Rafferty, Connor Simpson, Adam O'Reilly, Ethan Walker

Newcastle United: Freddie Woodman; Javier Manquillo (Jamie Sterry 46), Federico Fernández, Fabian Schär (Jamaal Lascelles 46), Paul Dummett (Ciaran Clark 46); Isaac Hayden (Jack Colback 46), Matty Longstaff (Sean Longstaff 46), Jonjo Shelvey (c) (Ki Sung-yueng 46), Rolando Aarons (Miguel Almirón 46), Matt Ritchie (Jacob Murphy 46); Yoshinori Muto (Joelinton 46)

Subs not used: Karl Darlow, Lewis Cass, Elias Sørensen, Kell Watts, Tom Allan