Boss Roy Keane says midfielder Billy Clark might have been one of a number of debutants on Saturday had he not used some of his more senior players from the bench earlier in the game. However, the Town manager says more youngsters are likely to be involved in the remaining weeks of the season.
In addition to Clark, defenders Tom Eastman and Troy Brown and midfielder Luke Hyam were also named in the 18 for the Doncaster game.
Keane told the club site: "I would have liked to have given a couple of the other players a run out on Saturday but we made some early changes and could only get Billy on in the end.
"You can't go and throw three or four youngsters straight into the first team anyway, but they will have benefited from being on the bench and they will be involved over the next week or two. It's nice to have them in the group, they provide a lot of energy."
Keane says he is yet to decide who will be involved at a sell-out St James’ Park next Saturday: "We will see how the youngsters train. If they take it easy they won't be anywhere near Newcastle next week.
"We've got senior players in the reserves this week and lads like Carlos Edwards to come back from illness, so we will see how we are."
Edwards has been suffering with chicken pox, while loan striker David Healy picked up a knee injury in training last week but is likely to be fit in time for Saturday.