Stoke City's first team opened their pre-season fixture calendar with a 5-1 win in the annual curtain-raiser at Newcastle Town.

A brace from Ricardo Fuller plus goals from Vincent Pericard, Liam Lawrence and Robert Garrett entertained a respectable 1,966 supporters at a rain-sodden Lyme Valley Stadium.

Tony Pulis chose to field separate line-ups for each half with just Lewis Buxton playing the full ninety minutes. Adam Rooney, Marlon Broomes and Ryan Shotton all missed the game through minor injuries.

The first forty-five saw out-of-contract Dominic Matteo feature in midfield with both Matthew Hazley and trialist Ndiwa Lord-Kangana in defence.

It didn't take long for the Potters to stamp their mark on the game, and Ricardo Fuller opened the afternoon's scoring after 7 minutes. The powerful Jamaican chased onto a through-ball and held off a defender to slot the ball past the advancing keeper.

The hosts weren't overawed however and equalised ten minutes later after a mistake by Buxton forced a Newcastle Town corner. An unmarked Liam McMann put away the low cross to level the scoreline.

City could have gone 2-1 up almost instantly when a half-chance fell to Mamady Sidibe, but his skewed shot was headed away from danger.

The visitors then started to dominate with several chances testing Powner in the Newcastle goal.

A bustling run from Ricardo Fuller saw the striker cut inside from the left to drill just over the crossbar while Peter Sweeney's low effort followed shortly after.

But it was to be Fuller who made it 2-1 with an excellent near-post header from a Sweeney corner on 34 minutes.

Half-time saw the line-ups change with Captain Danny Higginbotham partnering Buxton at the back and Jon Parkin leading the line with Vincent Pericard.

Ten minutes into the half and a cross-field pass by Anthony Pulis found Andy Wilkinson on the right hand side. The right-back cut inside and struck a left-footed effort that keeper Powner tipped around the post.

Jon Parkin went close to scoring minutes after when his looping effort went just over the bar.

It was to be his strike partner Vincent Pericard who would score the first of the second half on the hour mark.

A left-sided cross from Carl Dickinson was headed clear only as far as John Eustace, and his skewed shot fell to Pericard who finished well from the edge of the 6-yard box.

The Potters continued to attack and neat work by Pericard and Robert Garrett found Liam Lawrence at the back post.

The winger did well to find space between the defenders and fired high into the back of the net to make it 4-1 midway through the half.

Eustace and Garrett then interchanged passes to see the latter race clear but the midfielder could only blast into the side-netting.

It became 5-1 with ten minutes remaining when Buxton's through ball found Garrett who slid the ball home to cap an impressive performance.

Parkin nearly added a sixth but another lobbed effort narrowly missed the goal with the keeper back-tracking.

City boss Tony Pulis will hope the squad don't pick up any niggles with games against Huddersfield Town and Macclesfield Town coming before next Saturday's trip to Austria.

NEWCASTLE TOWN 1
McMann (17)

STOKE CITY 5
Fuller (7, 25), Pericard (60), Lawrence (65), Garrett (80)

FIRST HALF: Simonsen; Hoefkens, Buxton, Lord-Kangana, Hazley; Delap, Russell, Matteo, Sweeney; Sidibe, Fuller.

SECOND HALF: Hoult; Wilkinson, Buxton, Higginbotham, Dickinson; Garrett, Pulis, Eustace, Lawrence; Pericard, Parkin.