Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and Sunderland will head into the international break with mixed emotions.

The Magpies picked up a point at Everton on Saturday but it could easily have been more while Boro were left kicking themselves after throwing it away at Watford.

A point will have felt like a win for Sunderland on Friday night, though - and that's where we'll start in this week's North East Notes.

LEEDS UNITED 'DENT' CLAIM

Leeds United captain Pascal Struijk leapt to the defence of his under-fire goalkeeper Illan Meslier after his Sunderland howler - and claims there was a "dent" in the Stadium of Light pitch.

Meslier gifted the Black Cats a point on Friday night after making a mess of a routine gather but Struijk says there was more to it than met the eye.

"Of course he is disappointed, he knows that these things happen in football unfortunately," said the Leeds defender.

"I’ve looked at the pitch there, there is a massive dent there and I have a better chance of winning the lottery than it goes in a hole and then bounces to his right but we all know what a great keeper Illan is."

NEWCASTLE'S INTERNATIONAL BREAK 'BONUS'

Eddie Howe will be working with a skeleton squad on the Newcastle training pitches for the next fortnight, with a host of first team stars away on international duty.

Anthony Gordon, Nick Pope, Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall, Bruno, Will Osula, Miguel Almiron, Emil Kraft and Odysseas Vlachodimos are all linking up with their countries.

It's a frustrating stoppage for Howe - but good is also expected to come from the break for the Magpies.

Howe said: "I’d prefer to keep the players here. I just feel that we are beginning to get in a better place physically collectively and everyone on the same page and near enough 100 per cent fit to go with the ones that are fit here.

"Then they go again and you lose contact with them for two weeks and, in some senses, if they don’t play it brings you back a couple of steps.

"The bonus is that hopefully we get not just Callum and Alex fit but Lewis Miley as well, who has been a big miss from our squad. To get them three players back will be huge for us."

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INTERNATIONAL 'CONCERN' FOR STAR AFTER MIDDLESBROUGH EXIT

Things haven't gone to plan so far for Paddy McNair since his Middlesbrough exit in the summer.

McNair signed for Major League Soccer expansion club San Diego but then joined West Brom on loan until the new year.

But McNair hasn't yet played a Championship minute so far for Carlos Corberan's side and wasn't in the squad for four games until he returned to the bench for yesterday's draw with Millwall.

The defender’s only appearance to date came in the Carabao Cup loss to Fleetwood in August - and Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill has now admitted his concern about the former Manchester United youngster's lack of football.

McNair’s importance to Northern Ireland has only increased over the past 12 months with the loss of experienced heads including Steven Davis, Jonny Evans, and Stuart Dallas, with the 29-year-old one of only two remaining players, alongside Josh Magennis, who went to Euro 2016.

But his lack of football has given O'Neill a potential headache going into Nations League fixtures away to Belarus – a match that will be played behind closed doors in Hungary – and at home to Bulgaria on October 12th and 15th respectively.

“It is a concern,” O’Neill told the PA news agency this week.

“Obviously I’ve seen that from the last international game he’s not been involved in the matchday squads, so we have to assess that, how he feels and how he looks in training.

“Certainly you want players playing games or getting the opportunity to come off the bench, so him not getting that is far from ideal.”