Harrogate Town 2 Newcastle United U21s 0: Advertiser player ratings

Here's an assessment of how Simon Weaver's players performed during their 2-0 success at the EnviroVent Stadium.

Joe Cracknell 6.5 - Untroubled for almost the entirety of the evening. Kicking was poor during the first half but made a decent save from Adam Wilson late on.

Ryan Fallowfield 7 - Competed well in the air, played with his trademark energy and showed a willingness to get forward whenever he could. One important defensive header early in the second period dealt with a dangerous right-wing cross to the far post.

Will Smith 7.5 - Coped well with the young Magpies' forward line. Looked quick and strong on what was just his second game in over a month. Twice went close with efforts from a corner not long after half-time.

Warren Burrell 6.5 - Solid for the most part. One loose pass out of defence in the second half played Town into trouble, as did another error late on, but the visitors failed to capitalise.

Nathan Sheron 7 - United didn't get much joy down his flank. Did his job with minimum fuss.

George Thomson 7 - Neat and tidy and delivered some decent set-pieces. Linked well with Fallowfield down the Harrogate right. Went close with a goal-bound strike that was blocked by a Newcastle defender on 23 minutes.

Josh Falkingham 7 - Passed up a good chance to score when he aimed to square the ball to Danilo Orsi with just Toon goalkeeper Mark Gillespie to beat. Kept things ticking over nicely throughout.

Lloyd Kerry 8 - Took his goal well to break the deadlock on an evening where he bossed the middle of the pitch. Sprayed a number of beautifully-weighted long passes around in difficult conditions and won the turnover near halfway in the build up to his team doubling their lead.

Jack Diamond 7.5 - Caused the young Magpies huge problems down their right-hand side with his pace and trickery, delivering a couple of decent crosses. Lost the ball on a few occasions during the second period when it looked as if he was trying a bit too hard to make something happen all on his own. Tested Gillespie with a late shot from distance.

Danilo Orsi 7.5 - Was pretty quiet for long periods, but came to life just before half-time and delivered the stand-out moment of quality on the night. His clinical strike into the top corner to make it 2-0 proved once again that he is a lethal finisher when chances come his way.

Jack Muldoon 8 - Showed good awareness and a perfect weight of pass as he unselfishly set up Kerry and Orsi for their goals. And it was his willingness to press the Newcastle defence that helped force the turnover in possession which led to Town taking an early lead. Looked after and used the ball well all night.

Substitutes:

Emmanuel Ilesanmi (on for Muldoon, 83) N/A.

Ben Tweed (on for Falkingham, 88) N/A.

Brad Williams (on for Thomson, 88) N/A.