Former Carlisle United keeper Mark Gillespie dedicated his impressive Newcastle debut to a former academy team-mate who died at 15.

Gillespie's first Magpies outing saw the ex-Blues man keep a clean sheet in Tuesday's Carabao Cup 1-0 win over Blackburn.

The keeper later said the date of his first Toon appearance had been particularly fitting as he remembered Jordan Thompson.

Writing on Twitter, Gillespie said: "For my debut to come on the 13th anniversary of Jordan’s passing made it extra special."

Jordan died of acute myeloid leukaemia in 2007. His passing led Gillespie to become an ambassador of the charity Toma Fund, which supports children and young adults who are fighting cancer.

Gillespie joined the charity during his time at Carlisle, where he came through the youth ranks to become first-team keeper, and also represented the Toma Fund in Cumbria.

The 28-year-old added that it had been a thrill to make his Newcastle debut, having joined his home-city club from Motherwell this summer.

Speaking to NUFC TV after the Blackburn game, the keeper said: "I'm absolutely delighted, and it goes without saying it's a dream come true.

"To play for this club means a lot to the local people, like myself, and it's been something I've striven for since I signed for the club at the academy at the age of eight.

"I'm delighted - it's a shame there was no crowd there to see it as that would have made it extra special but just delighted to be through to the next round.

"You hear players when they grow up [talking about] wanting to be a footballer and wanting to play in the Premier League - for a lad from Newcastle you want to play for Newcastle United.

"It was a massive day for me and a proud day for me and my family."

Gillespie made 180 first-team appearances for Carlisle from 2010/17 after coming through Eric Kinder's youth team, having previously been released by Newcastle.

He became the club's youngest ever first-team goalkeeper when he came on for Adam Collin in the closing stages of the final game of the 2009/10 season at Norwich.

He figured under successive managers Greg Abbott, Graham Kavanagh and Keith Curle before moving on to Walsall and then Motherwell.

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce felt the keeper was man-of-the-match in the Blackburn game. He said: “Mark Gillespie was given away as a 16-year old so it was a big night for him on his debut and he was arguably our best player."

Newcastle face Brighton in the Premier League this weekend with Gillespie competing with Karl Darlow for the first-choice goalkeeping slot.

Regular No1 Martin Dubravka is out with an injury.