Newcastle United Under-21s Lead Coach Ben Dawson spoke about Alex Murphy scoring in their 2-1 win against Nottingham Forest.

The Magpies had to battle from behind against Forest's second string team on Monday night.

Murphy put in an assured display, playing his first 90 minutes since a hamstring injury he sustained in August.

"It was nice to see Alex get through 90 minutes," Dawson stated of the Irish defender.

"It's been a long time since he got a hamstring injury from the Manchester City game in September and he's since been training with the first-team and involved in match days.

"We have been fortunate he's come back and played some minutes for the under-21s. It was good to see him on the pitch for the full game and putting in a really good performance along with that.

"It can sometimes be difficult when you haven't played a full game for a long time but he coped with it really well and the goal was a nice touch for him at this moment in time."