Newcastle United reserve-team boss Lee Clark says the latest crop coming through is impressing manager Sam Allardyce.

Defenders like Alex Francis, Darren Lough and Mark Doninger have caught the eye of Allardyce already this season, as well as attackers like Jonny Godsmark, Frank Danquah and Kazenga LuaLua also shining.

Clark said: "The focus is to get players ready for the first team.

"We need to provide the manager with players who will be ready once they get called up, and then they can slot in quickly.

"The manager may need to use some of the youngsters over the season, and if they don't stay with him we want to make sure they are ready when they get called up again."

He added: "If they don't stay here we want to make sure they move on to another club in the Football League, like Paul Huntington did at Leeds.

"It breaks my heart to see players drift out of the game or into non-league. We want to make sure they go to the Championship from here, or at least the Football League.

"We want them to make a living out of the game after they have been at the club.

"That's why we want to get the lads at a level where they are good enough to compete in the first team."