Ashley Fletcher's hat-trick gave Boro a 3-1 win at St. James' Park - Cal Roberts got the Magpies' goal from the penalty spot - and coach Ben Dawson admitted that he was disappointed with his side's display.

"The stage doesn't get much better than St. James' Park. We probably beat ourselves as we were sloppy in possession and did not see passes as quickly as we should have," Dawson told nufc.co.uk.

"Too many of them took an extra touch and didn't see things early enough to be able to play it but I thought when Boro hit the bar it might have woken us up, as we seemed to be in second gear.

"We just never really got going and in the second half we got done by two goals on the break.

"There was not enough quality and there were too many basic things we did not do well enough on the night.

"For whatever reason we didn't get going so we'll review it and see what we could have done better."

However, Newcastle enjoyed a strong October overall, with 5-2 victories over Fulham and Aston Villa as well as a pair of victories over Notts County in the Premier League Cup and Checkatrade Trophy, and Dawson will hope his players can return to that form on Friday against a Manchester United side who sit third in Premier League 2 division two.

Admission at Leigh Sports Village is free - register here for tickets - and the game will be shown live on MUTV.