Include three teenagers, a centre-forward playing centre-half, two players squad players on the bench, one of which is new to the club, and what do you have? A Curzon Ashton side that demonstrated the will and ability to take on, match and better their north east hosts.
It's fair to say that Newcastle had the better of the opening 20 minutes but the Blues had enough to withstand what was put their way while looking the more likely side to score when they moved forward.
With a little more support on 12 minutes it could have been the visitors who took the lead when a free kick by keeper David Carnell was headed on by Jamie Byrne to Mike Norton at the far post. His knock-back had the home keeper Daniel Lowson scurrying across the 6 yard box to gain possession.
Newcastle had their best chance on 24 minutes when a corner swung by Dave McTiernon was headed over the top by Derek Townsley, one of two Newcastle players, the other being captain David Nicholls, who played in last season's Scottish Cup Final.
But we didn't have long to wait for Curzon to go back to the other end, and once more it was Byrne creating the danger with a ball across the 18 yard area to Chris Worsley, who watched his effort go off target, and they we were treated to shots from distance, with Dave Birch seeing his effort from 35 yards going just wide with Lowson caught off guard and then Nicholls trying his luck from a similar distance, which Carnell took comfortably.
Newcastle were reduced to ten men three minutes before the break when Norton became entangled with Chris Carr. The former England under-17 international and Newcastle United reserve team captain swung a punch at the Curzon forward leaving referee Mr Law with the task of brandishing a red card.
Curzon dominated the second period leaving their host to look for something on the break, which they almost achieved on 56 minutes, when Carnell had to come well out of his area to challenge Lee Novak, and his attempted lob over the keeper bounced wide of goal, but before that Lowson dropped the ball from a Ben Richardson corner, and he had Townsley to thank for clearing the danger.
Ryan Moore drove a ball in from the left, which Norton and Richardson both went for at the far post, with the former getting his head to the ball only for it to drift over the top, and there was a series of 'scares' inside the Newcastle 18 yard area, as that last vital touch continued to deny Curzon a goal that their play deserved.
A ball in by Richard Tait had Norton out-jumping Lowson but once again the ball went the wrong side of the crossbar, something repeated by Moore a minute before time.
Giving his injury problems and unavailability of players for varying reasons, manager Gary Lowe would have taken a point before the game started. At the end of the 90 minutes he knows that he slightly under estimated his side, but he also knows what potential he has in depth.