... to play Whitley Bay for a bit of fresh sea air to help them acclimatise.
Alan Pardew was at the match for a sneak preview but in a strange move, the Ukrainian club’s officials requested that spectators DON'T wear black & white shirts/scarves etc and the Whitley Bay website said that admittance would be denied if anybody turned up in United colours.
With two days to the fixture the kick-off time was changed from 7pm, to 5pm.
FC Metalist Kharkiv were held to a draw by Whitley Bay.
Whitley took the lead early in the first half through Scroggins, before Xavier levelled for the Ukrainians after just over twenty minutes gone.
The Bay held out as predictably Kharkiv looking the stronger team, but I wouldn't read too much into the fixture.
Metalist didn't want to give too much away as they made a number of substitutions and just wanted to get through the match without suffering injuries.
Metalist are currently fourth in their domestic league but they have not played in over two months since the Ukrainian began its winter break.