By Martin Walker
Newton Aycliffe goalkeeper Ross Turnbull made a surprise return to the Middlesbrough scene when he featured in a pre-season friendly for the Teessiders on Tuesday night.
Turnbull, 28, has been without a club since his release from Chelsea this summer and has been training at Boro’s Rockliffe Park HQ in Hurworth.
He started for Tony Mowbray’s young side in a pre-season friendly at Rotherham United on Tuesday evening, with Boro running out 3-2 winners.
It’s understood Mowbray wanted to have a look at Turnbull in a match situation and only drafted him into the squad on Tuesday morning.
And the Aycliffe Today blogger started the game at the New York Stadium, with fellow Newtonian and Boro’s current number one, Jason Steele, replacing him at half-time with the scores at 2-2.
Turnbull enjoyed a trial at Dutch side RKC Waalwijk last week but would probably prefer to return to his native North-East after four years in London, with speculation already suggesting he’ll be offered a deal at Boro.
Ben Gibson, Faris Haroun and Lukas Jutkiewicz scored the goals for Boro in front of a 2,143 crowd this evening, with Premier League ref Howard Webb taking charge of the game.
Boro: Turnbull (Steele 46); Bennett, Gibson (R Williams 46), Burgess, Halliday (Brobbel 64); Park, Smallwood, Haroun (Jutkiewicz 46); Ledesma, Dolan (Morris 64), Reach.
Subs: Leadbitter, Emnes, Carayol, Whitehead, Parnaby, Varga.
Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire).
Attendance: 2,143 (271 Boro fans).
