Bellamy the hero as Magpies march on

Feyenoord 2 Newcastle 3

The Welshman and Hugo Viana had given Sir Bobby Robson’s side a 2-0 lead with 49 minutes gone, but substitute Mariano Bombarda and Anthony Lurling dragged the home side back into it before Bellamy snatched victory at the death.

Bobby Robson’s gamble with Bellamy paid off in first-half injury time as the Welshman fired his side into a precious lead.

The 23-year-old accepted Alan Shearer’s flick-on to race away and beat Patrick Lodewijks to give his side’s hopes of Champions League progression a major shot in arm.

Van Marwijk’s men, with Bosvelt particularly prominent from central midfield, started to string a few passes together, but other than a neat 32nd-minute through-ball from the skipper towards striker Thomas Buffel which Given hacked away, they were causing few real problems for the United rearguard.

However, there was panic in the visitors’ penalty area 10 minutes before the break when Bonaventure Kalou got the benefit of a contentious offside decision to accept Song’s pass, but he could not find a way past Nikos Dabizas.

The game was starting to open up and Feyenoord went close seconds later when Lurling played Buffel in and he rounded Given, but instead of shooting left-footed, he came back on to his right and could not beat the Irishman.

Then, with only seconds of injury-time remaining, Bellamy struck.

The news that Juventus were holding Dynamo Kiev at the Olympic Stadium at the break will have filtered through to the United camp, and Robson’s side started the second-half in confident mood.

And their mood improved even further just four minutes after the restart after Dyer robbed Tomasz Rzasa on the edge of the Feyenoord penalty area. The England midfielder looked up before crossing to the far post for Viana to control neatly before hammering a left-foot shot past Lodewijks.

Van Marwijk changed things almost immediately when he sent Mariano Bombarda on in place of Song, but it was the visitors who almost increased their lead on 53 minutes when Bellamy’s fired across Lodewijks but wide of the post.

There was always going to be a response from Feyenoord and it duly arrived with 55 minutes gone as United were stretched to the limit.

First Given saved superbly from Emerton after he cut in from the left, and he preserved his side’s advantage again within seconds by blocking Kalou’s close-range effort, Dabizas matching his feat as Lurling followed up.

But as the Dutchmen went for broke, United too had chances, Lodewijks tipping over a Shearer free-kick at full-stretch and the keeper parrying a close-range Speed header from the resulting corner.

Lurling shot criminally wide with just Given to beat on 61 minutes, but Bombarda made no mistake four minutes later after Kalou split the United defence to throw the game back into the melting pot.

Bellamy could have restored his side’s two-goal advantage with 20 minutes remaining when Aaron Hughes put him clear down the left and he cut inside to force a fine finger-tip save from Lodewijks.

However, disaster struck for the visitors a minute later when Dyer’s error allowed Lurling to volley past the helpless Given for the equaliser.

Newcastle had to endure an agonising finale as Bellamy wasted two good opportunities and the Dutchmen piled on the pressure.

Bosvelt blasted just wide with only three minutes remaining as Robson faced the prospect of total elimination from European competition, but they continued to scrap for dear life as the clock ran down.

And they got their reward in the final minute of normal time when Dyer’s shot was parried by Lodewijks and Bellamy followed up to fire home off the keeper from a tight angle.

FEYENOORD: Lodewijks, Gyan, Rzasa, Van Wonderen, Paauwe, Emerton, Buffel, Bosvelt, Song, Lurling, Kalou.

NEWCASTLE: Given, O’Brien, Dabizas, Hughes, Griffin, Dyer, Jenas, Viana, Speed, Bellamy, Shearer.