NEWCASTLE UNITED signed off pre-season with a victory over Vitesse Arnhem on an afternoon when summer signing Dwight Gayle got off the mark at St James’ Park.

The Magpies, fielding five new arrivals from the start and still hoping to lure Anthony Knockaert from Brighton, were at their best in the first half when they scored all of their goals in a 3-2 win.

Matt Ritchie, also making his first start on Tyneside for Newcastle, was instrumental in the opener which was heavily turned into his own net by Kelvin Leerdam.

And after Gayle, who also found the net against Bohemians on the trip to Ireland, had pounced with half-time approaching there was still time for Jack Colback to add to the tally.

Vitesse, who finished ninth in the Dutch Eredivisie last season, were allowed to claw themselves back into it after the restart though courtesy of some poor defending from set pieces.

But Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez, whose side start their Championship campaign at Fulham on Friday night, had seen his team do just enough to win it and they would have had more had goalkeeper Eloy Room not made a number of second half stops.

It was the first chance for Newcastle’s home support to see the summer recruits in action and all of them had decent outings, even if Vitesse rarely caused problems.

Defender Grant Hanley, a £5m buy from Blackburn, won his first share of headers and blocks, while he might have scored had one of his two headers from deep crosses into the box not dropped off target.

In the middle Arsenal recruit Isaac Hayden was lively alongside Colback, regularly pushing on to join the attacks, and goalkeeper Matz Sels made a couple of strong stops, particularly from an early free-kick to deny Chelsea youngster Lewis Baker.

It was going forward were Newcastle looked most impressive. Ritchie, the £12m buy from Bournemouth, sent over a number of teasing crosses and it was his shot that deflected in off Leerdam that opened the scoring in the 22nd minute.

Fourteen minutes later Gayle made it two. The former Crystal Palace man arrived on cue to neatly tuck away the finish after Ayoze Perez’s turn in the box led to a loose ball rolling perfectly into the path of his team-mate.

There was still time before the break for a third and it was well worked. Vurnon Anita’s reverse pass down the line sent Perez clear. The skilful Spaniard twisted and turned before picking out Colback at the back post to nod beyond goalkeeper Room.

Newcastle were confident in possession but Vitesse made a game of it eight minutes after the interval when Benitez was reminded that there are still plenty of things to work on.

A routine corner into Newcastle’s front post was poorly dealt with and was never cleared so it landed conveniently at the feet of Brazilian striker Nathan to tap in from under the crossbar.

Seven minutes later the Newcastle defence failed to clear its lines again when a set piece from a free-kick on the right caused problems. There was no home shirt who took control of the situation and skipper Guram Kashia volleyed powerfully beyond Sels.

After that the customary friendly substitutions regularly interrupted the flow but Vitesse’s keeper Room did make a couple of good saves from Paul Dummett and Aleksandar Mitrovic’s headers.

Mitrovic was a presence again in the final third after his introduction and Room made two further stops from him before the final whistle. All eyes now, though, will turn to Craven Cottage.

NEWCASTLE (4-2-3-1): Sels; Janmaat (Sterry 74), Hanley (Gamez 62), Lascelles, Dummett; Hayden (Saivet 74), Colback (Shelvey 62); Anita (Gouffran 74), Perez (Armstrong 62), Ritchie (Aarons 62); Gayle (Mitrovic 74). Subs (not used): Darlow, Sterry, Tioté, Saivet, Thauvin.

VITESSE ARNHEM (4-2-3-1): Room; Leerdam (van Bergen 71), Kashia, Kruiswijk, Ota, Nakamba, Baker, Qazaishvili (Foor 46), Rashica, Zhang; Nathan (Lelieveld 72). Subs (not used): van der Werff, van Wolfswinkel, Dauda, Osman, Kotte, Tornes, Houwen, Koryan, Faye.