Heads and Tayls

When Dan Taylor sent a fine looping header past Sam Johnstone to put Newcastle United Reserves 3-0 up against Manchester United, few would have predicted what was to follow. The teenage striker gave the Magpies a commanding lead after 32 minutes on Monday night, adding to goals from Bradden Inman and Phil Airey - but Willie Donachie's side contrived to lose 6-3 as the Red Devils staged a remarkable comeback to win the Barclays Premier Reserve League North title. For Taylor, who had scored four times in his last three under-18s appearances, the goal continued his fine run of form. But for Newcastle's second-string, the wait goes on for a league win; a 2-0 success at Wigan in January was the last time they enjoyed a victory. After racing ahead with some excellent football, United had a great chance to end that miserable run, but four goals from Will Keane, one from Davide Petrucci and a sixth from Ritchie de Laet changed the entire complexion of the match. "We didn't think it was game over at 3-0, but obviously we should have seen it out," Taylor admitted to nufc.co.uk. "We knew they were going to come back strongly in the second half but I don't know what happened really. It was just balls over the top and they ended up getting the equaliser in the end, and just went on from there. "You could see they had some quality players; Will Keane with his pace, who was always a threat in behind, and obviously (Paul) Pogba who's been in the first-team. They had some good players but at 3-0 I thought we should definitely have seen the game out. "All credit to them, though, they won the game at the end of the day. I'm not sure they were too bothered about the title, really - they didn't look too pleased - but they're obviously a good team with great players and they'll be happy that they've done it. "And now we just want to get back to winning ways as soon as possible." Taylor was pleased to continue his hot streak in front of goal, however, as he looks to finish the campaign as strongly as possible. With the club's retained list set to be announced soon, the youngster from Whitley Bay faces a wait to see where his future lies but with a crowd of 597 plus a sizeable television audience on MUTV, his goal will not have got unnoticed. "If I'm not going to be here next season then I've got to try and play well and score some goals, and if there are people watching me, try and impress them," he said. "It was a really good game to play in, with thousands of people watching, so hopefully I've done enough." For now, however, Taylor is eyeing a league and cup double with the under-18s on the verge of being crowned champions of the Premier Academy League Group D and the Reserves through to the final of the Sage Northumberland FA Senior Cup against Team Northumbria later this month. "It's been a while since I've been in a league battle - not since I was playing boys club level, so it's been good this year," he explained. "I played quite a few games at the start and then didn't play as many, but it's still nice to be part of the league run-in. There's a bit of pressure but I think we'll definitely win the league. "And if we can win the cup too, that would be really good. We won it last year and it's always good to win trophies."