GOALS remain in short supply on Tyneside, but John Carver is not ready to thrust teenage talent Adam Armstrong in to the potentially career-damaging Premier League atmosphere from the start just yet.

The 18-year-old has established himself as a key member of the England Under-18s squad and was wanted by a variety of Championship clubs before the Football League’s loan window closed at the end of last month.

But Carver decided to keep Armstrong at St James’ Park even though he has not started a second game for the Magpies since his one and only outing from the first whistle at Manchester United on Boxing Day.

The locally produced forward appears to have a bright future ahead of him and would provide Newcastle with something different after a woeful run of defeats which has seen them fail to score in four of the five reversals.

But Carver said: “People want Adam Armstrong to play and it’s a difficult situation for Adam, because his form in the reserves hasn’t been great. He hasn’t been prolific.

“He’s a young player developing and we had a situation with Adam Campbell not so long ago, where he got fast tracked and he got thrown into that European game and everybody thought he was going to be the next Franco Zola or whatever and he wasn’t. And it affected him. I don’t want the same thing happening to Adam Armstrong.

“What Adam needs at this football club is to be out on loan, playing in the Championship or playing in League One for a good season. And we almost let him do that, until Papiss Cisse got suspended. He was on his way to Bolton, I think it was, or Forest.

“He needs a good season out on loan, in the Championship, banging in goals, as part of his development but because of the circumstances we’ve had to keep hold of him, keep him in the squad and use him sparingly.”

Before Armstrong heads out on loan next season he could yet find himself scoring his first Premier League goal between now and the end of the season; and tomorrow against Tottenham would be the ideal place to start.

Carver, who still harbours hopes of staying head coach beyond this season, said: “Goals have been a problem all season if you take Papiss’s goals out of it. It’s been a problem.

“But, again, I was very disgruntled at the derby game, we didn’t create anything, at least we created something the other night at Liverpool and that was encouraging.

“I thought the addition of Jack Colback into midfield and Mehdi Abeid playing a little bit higher, which he prefers to play, helped. We’re obviously going to lose Moussa Sissoko, but being a bit higher against Liverpool helped the team.

“We need to express ourselves just a little bit more. And I think - and I genuinely believe this - the addition of Daryl Janmaat playing, who is one of our highest assist-makers - that’s encouraging. It’s very difficult.”

Newcastle’s attacking options would certainly be boosted by the return of highly-rated winger Rolando Aarons. Carver has not been able to call on the Jamaican-born teenager during his time in charge because he has been sidelined since November 1.

But Carver said: “He’s obviously had this ongoing situation with his hamstring. We thought we had him up to a certain level, he worked extremely hard in the early part of last week, then there was a reaction to it, which you’re going to get - muscle soreness - after an injury like that.

“We scanned him, there was nothing on the scan, which shows it could be something connected, it could be something in his hip, something in his back, so we’re going to send him to another specialist to eliminate that situation, but the reports about him being out for the rest of the season, I don’t know where they came from. I’d like to think he’ll wear the shirt again before the end of the season.”