Magpies swoop to conquer

Sochaux 0 Newcastle 4

Manager Graeme Souness rested several of his key players for Sunday's Everton clash but his Magpies still drew the sting out of the French side before finishing them off in devastating fashion.

Lee Bowyer opened the scoring against the run of play with 29 minutes gone and Shola Ameobi made it 2-0 within 49 seconds of the restart. The visitors survived a major scare on 63 minutes when referee Carlos Megia Davilla awarded a controversial penalty, but Jeremy Mathieu dragged his effort wide.