AMERICAN newlyweds Tara Devlin and her soccer-mad husband, Dan, travelled 5,000 miles to spend their honeymoon watching Newcastle United.

After walking down the aisle, blonde 23-year-old Tara, from California, surprised Dan, 29, with a pair of tickets to see his favourite team and plane tickets to Newcastle.

The happy husband said: "The colour just drained from my face and I put my head in my hands - I just couldn't believe it.

"This is a dream come true and I really had no idea."

Tara said: "He really is mad for Newcastle United.

"People might think I'm mad, but this is such an 'us' thing to do - I'm having a fabulous time here in Newcastle."

The couple's home, in Monterey, has a Magpie memorabilia room, and Dan regularly makes his way to the local British pub in the early hours to watch the team play.

Dan began his love affair with the Toon when he was at college in North Carolina.

He said: "I shared a room with two guys from Dublin and a guy from Malaysia. They used to watch Match of the Day highlights every week and said I had to pick a team to support.

"That was in 1994 - the Keegan era, when Peter Beardsley and Andy Cole were still playing for the club - and I've been following them ever since."

Dan and Tara, who work for the US Department of Defence, are looking forward to the Good Friday clash against Everton and will be going to see the team train at Benton, Newcastle.