Magpies squeeze through

2004-03-04 08:34

Newcastle - Newcastle boss Sir Bobby Robson voiced his relief after watching his side make hard work of advancing to the last 16 of the Uefa Cup with a 3-1 win over Norwegian minnows Valerenga.

Alan Shearer, who was left fuming after being left out of last week's 1-1 first leg draw in Norway, produced a powerful drive to fire his side ahead after just 19 minutes.

But Valerenga defender Erik Hagen equalised within six minutes and it was not until Shola Ameobi scored his second goal of the evening, two minutes from time, that Newcastle could be sure of advancing against opponents they had been expected to dispatch with ease.

"We were awful in the first half and the game was in the melting pot," Robson admitted. "We knew we had to play in the second half to go through and there was a dramatic improvement.

"We had better cohesion and a better attitude and we're happy to be through."

The win puts Newcastle into a fourth round draw featuring the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool and Inter Milan.

"We know there is only sheer class left in the competition," Robson added.

"We will not talk about how far we can progress. We are only thinking about the next game and we will look forward to the draw."

Shearer's opener came with a trademark blast from Jermaine Jenas's short free-kick on the edge of the area.

But it was soon cancelled out when Hagen got on the end of a corner from player-coach Kjetil Rekdal to volley past Shay Given.

Ameobi came off the bench at the start of the second half after Craig Bellamy was withdrawn with a hamstring injury and made an almost immediate impact.

With just over a minute gone after the restart, Ameobi found space down the left and cut inside Hagen and blasted in a right-foot shot.

Valerenga knew however that an equaliser would be enough to send them through on the away goals rule and they made Newcastle's fans bite their nails until just over a minute from the end, when Jenas sprung their offside trap and crossed for Ameobi to score his second of the night from close range.

- AFP