NEWCASTLE UNITED suffered an injury scare to Fabian Schar as their pre-season preparations continued with a 1-0 defeat to Bundesliga side Mainz in Austria.

Schar hobbled off in the early stages of the second half, and appeared to be clutching his hamstring as he left the field. Newcastle’s medical staff will monitor him closely in the next few days, with Eddie Howe and his players due to return from Austria later this week before heading off to another training camp in Portugal.

Delano Burgzorg’s second-half strike made the difference as Newcastle were beaten at the Grenzlandstadion home of Austrian Regional League side FC Kufstein, with the Magpies’ best chance coming to nothing when Jacob Murphy failed to convert Emil Krafth’s cross.

Howe named a strong Newcastle starting line-up, with Sven Botman making his first start for the club alongside Schar at the heart of the back four and Brazilian duo Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton starting in midfield alongside Sean Longstaff.

The warm conditions in Austria mitigated against a fast pace, and the first half was a somewhat pedestrian affair, with clear opportunities at a premium.

Martin Dubravka made a routine save from a long-range free-kick midway through the first half, before Chris Wood wasted Newcastle’s first opportunity as he fired a first-time effort over the crossbar following a pull-back from Miguel Almiron.

Wood was thwarted again shortly after as a cluster of Mainz defenders shut him down following a centre from Kieran Trippier, and Dubravka was forced into the best save of the first half shortly before half-time as he turned a free-kick from Anton Stach around the post.

There was an injury scare at the start of the second half, with Schar appearing to go down clutching his hamstring, and while the Swiss centre-half was able to hobble off, Newcastle’s medical staff will be monitoring him closely over the next few days.

He was replaced by Dan Burn, and within a minute of their enforced defensive reshuffle, the Magpies found themselves falling behind.

Burgzorg was afforded far too much room down the Mainz left, and after advancing into the area, the forward clipped a deft finish past an advancing Dubravka, who should perhaps have done better.

Howe made a host of changes after the opening goal, and Newcastle should really have equalised when Krafth set up Murphy, only for the winger to struggle to get the ball under control, enabling the Mainz defence to deal with the danger.

With Elliot Anderson impressing in the final half-hour, the Magpies were the better side in the closing stages. Callum Wilson narrowly failed to connect with Jonjo Shelvey’s floated cross, before Anderson drilled in a low long-range effort that was well saved.

Newcastle: Dubravka (Pope 60); Trippier (Krafth 60), Schar (Burn 57), Botman (Lascelles 60), Dummett (Ritchie 30 (Targett 60)); Guimaraes (Anderson 60), S Longstaff (Shelvey 60), Joelinton (Willock 60); Almiron (Murphy 60), Wood (Wilson 60), Fraser (Saint-Maximin 60).