UEFA Cup

NEWCASTLE UTD 1 FENERBAHCE 0

NEWCASTLE: Harper, Carr, Taylor, Ramage, Duff, Milner, Parker,Emre (Butt 54), N’Zogbia (Solano 64), Sibierski,Martins (Ameobi 75).
Subs Not Used: Luque, Moore, Bramble, Krul.

FENERBAHCE: Rustu, Turaci, Lugano, Edu Dracena,Ozat (Deivid 81), Yozgatli (Boral 69), Appiah, Aurelio, Sanli,Kezman, Alex.
Subs Not Used: Demirel, Metin, Arat, Baris, Balci.

Another disappointing crowd (30,035), when you consider how many Turks were in St James’ Park. But with Premiership, Carling Cup and UEFA Cup games coming thick and fast, it costs a lot of money following football these days, and knowing the tie was on TV certainly had many keeping their money in their arse pockets.

Glenn Roeder insisted nothing but a win would be good enough, and regardless of the fact there are still three games to play, he knows full well the job is already half done. Six points is the total to guarantee qualification for the next round, and he now has three in the bag.

Frenchman Antoine Sibierski will make the headlines this morning, and probably rightfully so. The 32-year-old scored the goal in Tallin to get United this far, and he lashed in the winner from eight yards on 79 minutes to settle the nerves and give us an edge in this campaign.

Roeder went with a defence that, to be honest, looked like a rabbit’s hind leg at first viewing. No Bramble or Moore at the heart of the defence. Instead he went with Ramage and Taylor, and winger Damien Duff at left-back. But it worked. And Sibierski’s intervention came just as it looked as though the Turks had done enough to leave with a point.

Newcastle still seemed rattled by Sunday’s capitulation against Bolton, and it wasn’t happy viewing when the Turks seemed to win every 50-50 ball and looked more up to the challenge than the hosts. This certainly was the case in the first half, and although chances were few and far between in the first 45 minutes, the visitors looked the more composed.

Goalkeeper Steve Harper was a doubt before the game, and he obviously was struggling with some form of injury because Ramage took all of the goal-kicks. That in itself was a danger, and I was surprised the Turks stuck to a strict formation rather than pushing up when United had a goal-kick. All it took was a sloppy kick, a Turkish midfielder winning the header, and Ramage would play the whole forward line onside. But that didn’t happen.

As well as winger Damien Duff at left-back, Sibierski played a strange role. I’m sure Roeder wanted him in attack alongside Martins, but he hasn’t the pace to compliment the £10m striker. In the end he seemed lost between midfield and attack, only really contibuting on dead-ball situations.

Former Galatasaray midfielder Emre picked up a knock before the break, and his evening ended prematurely on 54 minutes being replaced by Nicky Butt.

The deadlock was finally broken with 11 minutes remaining when, after Taylor’s effort had been blocked, Sibierski stabbed the loose ball past Rustu to win the match.