O'Carroll "delighted" after five-goal fest against Forest | OneFootball

The young Magpies fell behind inside five minutes at the Loughborough University Stadium following Zyan Blake's glanced finish before netting three times in turning the contest in their favour following strikes from Johnny Emerson, Garang Kuol and Sean Neave.

Kyle McAdam's effort set up a tense finale for United's second-string but were able to prevail in the five-goal encounter, further enhancing their hopes of qualifying for the Premier League 2 play-offs, and O'Carroll was pleased with his side's response after a difficult start.

The Irish coach, who arrived at United's Academy from Scottish Premiership side St Mirren in September 2024, told newcastleunited.com: "I'm delighted. You could see we started like a team that hasn't played in a couple of weeks. We were a little bit slow and passive at the start of the game. Credit to Forest who were good and came out of the traps so I made a little tweak in terms of what of what we were doing, system-wise, and we got after the ball.

"The minute we started pressing the ball, everything came together. We started scoring from our press, with Sean (Neave) pressing for two of the goals and then we played well. If you run hard and properly, your talent comes out. If you don't, you rely on your talent so that was a big improvement and, after the first 15 minutes, I thought we were the better team.

"We're in a position where we want this club to be in the top half and the Premier League International Cup next season. That's the aim and the team we picked tonight was trying to give us the best opportunity to win the game and, in fairness to the lads, I thought they deserved it."

O'Carroll, also a senior coach for Northern Ireland, commended his side's mentality to record a third consecutive league win and is hopeful a positive conclusion to the 2024/25 campaign can result in a top eight finish, which would secure a home draw in the play-offs.

The Killarney-born coach added: "It was nervy (at the end) but there's learning in that too and digging in, wanting to win games. I've been big on trying to have that desire to win regardless of just being a lot of time at youth level, playing well individually and the result not meaning as much. I don't buy that.

"Learning to win is a skill and having the ability to dig in. The boys have shown that with our ninth win in 18 league games which is brilliant. We have two league games to go before, hopefully, the play-offs and to finish with another win or two to secure home advantage."

Newcastle's second-string face Reading at St. James' Park on Monday, 7th April (kick-off 7pm BST) and will confirm their spot in the Premier League 2 play-offs with a victory against their Royals counterparts.

Currently situated in tenth place of the 26-team division, O'Carroll is hoping for his squad to impress in their penultimate league game under the lights at the club's home stadium.

"It'll be great for the lads," he added. "That's what they work hard for and, ultimately, where they want to go. I'm looking forward to standing on the touchline there and, hopefully, look after a good performance and win but we will get back to work.

"It was a heavy night, with a lot of people returning after a few weeks out so credit to them. Everyone can be proud of their performance."