Newcastle United beat Saint-Etienne 2-1 on Saturday.
Newcastle United brought and end to their pre-season preparations on Saturday afternoon by beating French side Saint-Etienne 2-1 at St James’ Park.
Steve Bruce was in the home dugout for the first time at St James’ Park on Saturday, having somewhat controversially taken over from Rafael Benitez this summer.
A gamee against a very decent Ligue 1 side in Saint-Etienne was a perfect test ahead of the new Premier League season, and Bruce saw his side claim the win.
Club-record signing Joelinton opened the scoring, chasing down a long ball to round the Saint-Etienne goalkeeper before pipping two defenders to the ball and scoring.
Neat work by new signings Allan Saint-Maximin and Jetro Willems down the left flank allowed Sean Longstaff to pick out his brother Matty, and he hammered a superb strike into the net for 2-0.
Ex-Newcastle defender Mathieu Debuchy pulled one back for Saint-Etienne, but Newcastle grabbed the win – and it was a dream home debut for Joelinton.
The Brazilian hitman, signed from Hoffenheim last month, won a penalty against Preston and scored against Hibernian, before marking his home debut with a goal too – something he’ll love to match against Arsenal next weekend.
Bruce was seen embracing and congratulating his record signing after being substituted, and he’ll be very encouraged by his start to life with the Magpies – but will know the Premier League is a big step up from pre-season action.
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