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.