IT was a pleasure to see internationally renowned footballers gracing the turf in the latest Premier reserve league game to take place at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Of course, there are many residents of Warrington who travel out of town to attend Premier League matches, the majority following either Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United, but there are also many sports fans in the town whose support is restricted to the bar stool in their local or the sofa in their lounge - for whatever reason.

I include myself in that group of people, with my sporting commitments lying elsewhere. Match of The Day and other highlights shows are my best hope for catching up each week on top-flight football.

So, to see the likes of Liverpool's Australian international Harry Kewell and Newcastle's former England under 21s striker Shola Ameobi expressing their skills in the flesh was an interesting experience - an opportunity to see what all the fuss is about, even if they were supposedly catching up on match fitness after injuries.

And, after being stuck in the office to meet various deadlines when Liverpool Reserves made their debut at The Halliwell Jones against Sunderland on October 2, Thursday's clash was also my first opportunity to take in a game at that level of football.

I'm not really sure what I expected but, being honest, I was quite impressed - well, with Liverpool anyway.

Some of the skill on the ball was a delight to see from Liverpool's crop of global youngsters, with some dazzling footwork at times.

The majority of their passing went to feet and there was a great energy about their play.

In contrast, I thought Newcastle were pretty poor and didn't see much that would be troubling first-team players for their places.

Maybe that says a lot about teams that chase titles and those that are middle of the road.

Ameobi was anonymous but Kewell showed his class in sniffing out opportunities and his opening 45-minute performance, in which he scored the opening goal with a header from a corner, would have been most people's highlight of the night. There was certainly a lot of Go on, Harry!' shouts from the children in the stands.

There were quite a lot of kids watching Liverpool's 2-1 win and I think junior football teams in the town could do worse than turn up as a group to admire the talent on show in one of the future games to take place at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Youngsters do pick up a lot from the players they watch - whether that be in soccer or any other sport.

Watching the Reds at The Halliwell Jones is ideal because of the talented players but also because of the stadium - you're on top of the action rather than potentially being miles away from it at some football grounds.

There's no guarantee there will always be a player on the field with the profile of Kewell but young players could certainly learn a lot about keeping shape, off-the-ball movement, crisp passing and deft footwork when beating a marker.