A Saints under-23 side containing three full internationals hit Newcastle for six tonight at St Mary's.
James Ward-Prowse, Pierre Hojbjerg and Jan Bednarek all lined up in a starting XI that also contained the likes of Sam McQueen, Matt Targett and Jake Hesketh.
Saints led 3-0 at half-time and, though the Toon pulled two back, a late goal rush gave Saints a 6-2 success in Premier League 2.
It was from a Ward-Prowse corner that Marcus Barnes, the front-runner in a 4-2-3-1 formation, opened the scoring on eight minutes.
It was a case of deju vu on 17 minutes when Jonathan Afolabi also netted from a Ward-Prowse flag-kick.
McQueen, playing on the left hand side of the attacking trio behind Barnes, made it 3-0 on 37 minutes.
Tom Heardman and Jamie Sherry pulled Newcastle back into contention with goals on 71 and 82 minutes, before McQueen headed in a Yann Valery cross on 86 minutes.
Shortly after, sub Tyreke Johnson got in on the act before Ward-Prowse completed the half-dozen haul direct from a free-kick.
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