Hayden gets hit with a fiery challenge in training.. & he loves it

LIVE sport returns to the UK this afternoon with racing from Newcastle.

But just two miles away from the Gosforth Park racecourse, Newcastle United have already had their first faller.

Steve Bruce’s side resumed full-contact training with a bang – and in Isaac Hayden’s case, with a crash, bang and wallop!

Anyone logging on to the club’s website to watch the Magpies being put through their paces in the blazing sun at their

Little Benton training base, can see for themselves the players were at full pelt.

Fabian Schar in particular – as Hayden can testify. The-tough tackling Switzerland star clearly could not wait for Project Restart’s phase one of football’s training programme to end and phase two to kick in – quite literally. During a practice game between two sets of players, Schar clattered into Hayden with a full-blooded challenge (above) which would not have looked out of place in the red-hot atmosphere of a bad-tempered derby.

The scenes of teams ramping up their work at training grounds up and down the country shows, at long last, football is entering the final furlong of Project Restart.

And Hayden, 25, was only too happy to be on the receiving end of his team-mate’s ‘Welcome back’ gift. “I didn’t even get a foul for that,” said

Hayden with a grin. “The referee in that game wasn’t the best!

“But seriously, it’s great to be out there again and let’s face it,

I am not one to shy away from contact.

“Everyone wants that competitive edge back. It’s what we’ve been missing. Individual training is one thing, but you lack that competition and desire to win.”

Newcastle are back in Premier League action in less than three weeks when they host Sheffield United behind closed doors at St James’ Park.

By then, it is expected that owner Mike Ashley will have gone with Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium in charge.

While his long-term fate is up in the air, boss Bruce (left) will almost