Watch: Garang Kuol scores screamer for Newcastle United U21s in National League Cup tie against Altrincham

Newcastle United's Under 21s made it to the last eight of the National League Cup, but that was all she wrote as the stiffs were dumped out of the cup on penalties by Altrincham last night.

The hosts took an early two-goal lead scoring twice in the opening 10 minutes, but the Magpies were on level terms before the half hour mark thanks to a stunning effort from Garang Kuol and a penalty by Jay Turner-Cooke.

Garang Kuol found himself on the scoresheet again to put the Magpies in the lead, and despite Altrincham missing a late penalty, they did manage a last-minute equaliser, taking the game to penalties where they triumphed.

It was a sucker punch for the youngsters, but Garang Kuol appears to be loving life on Tyneside lately bagging his fifth goal in seven games, and the quality of that first one was delightful.

Newcastle crashed out of the cup but Garang Kuol scored a belter in the process

Part of Newcastle United's content team, Luke Vinton was thankfully on hand to clip the goal and post in on X for all to see.

Picking up the ball about 30 yards out, Kuol takes a touch and a step and rifles the ball into the top corner with venom.

It has been far from smooth sailing for Kuol since he made the switch from Central Coast Mariners in Australia. A couple of poor loan spells and injuries have made us question whether we've made the right call.

Garang Kuol is starting to show signs that he is the player we were hoping he'd be

Now, it seems as though he's finally starting to settle, and he's getting his confidence back. We could be about to see the 'wonderkid' we were all promised when he signed for the Toon.

We've said a couple of times that it could be time to cut our losses, but now we're definitely thinking we should stick with him and maybe nurture him in-house for a bit longer.

Unless we can get a loan move for him in the Championship, we should be keeping hold of him. Sending out to Europe isn't going to prepare him for the Premier League in the way a stint being booted around in the Championship would.