Newcastle eased their way into the last four of the Intertoto Cup after a 1-0 victory over Sporting Lokeren at St James' Park on Saturday afternoon. A crowd of 29,021 watched what was a methodical if not exciting victory, as the Magpies failed to produce the same form that saw them through 4-0 winners in the first leg in Belgium last week.
A single strike from Craig Bellamy, his first for the club, secured Newcastle their victory in a match they completely dominated but poor finishing cost them a more comfortable winning margin. Manager Bobby Robson fielded the same starting 11 that featured in the first leg in Belgium. The only goal of the game came on the hour mark when Christian Bassedas set up Bellamy who turned his header into the back of the net. However, Newcastle will need to be more potent in front of goal when they take on 1860 Munich in the semi-finals on Wednesday.
Robson has already called on the help of Leeds United in preparing for Wednesday's tie. "Leeds United have helped us by sending us some tapes because they played them last year," explained Robson. "We're away first and I quite like that. It should be a pretty good game here, the second leg in 10 days. If we get 29,000 tonight, we'll get 35,000 for the Germans."
Robson was also delighted that one of his recent signings had proved his worth in front of goal. "It was important for Craig to get his first goal. I had a chat with him before the game and said `it's your first match at home, it's important that you show the public whatever quality you have, show them that you're proud to be a Newcastle United player in a black and white shirt'," he added.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
