Newcastle need away goal to progress

Newcastle 0 Marseille 0

Newcastle emerged from the first leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final weighing up equal measures of regret and relief after a tantalising match that should give Sir Bobby Robson real hope of achieving an historic victory in Marseille.

There was relief that the Magpies maintained a clean sheet in the face of some inspired Marseille attacking play, yet regret that they failed to take advantage of several excellent chances.

On reflection, Newcastle will probably settle for the fact that Marseille cannot now benefit from away goals – though that was thanks only to the woodwork that kept out Didier Drogba’s stunning volley and the Woodgate (Jonathan) who was nothing less than brilliant throughout.

There is also hope that either Kieron Dyer or Craig Bellamy will have recovered from injury for without them Newcastle appeared severely lacking in pace, and only the aerial prowess of Alan Shearer and Shola Ameobi allowed the home side to mount a significant challenge to Marseille.

The visitors did not appear intimidated by the packed St James’ Park with Camel Meriem immediately causing problems to Aaron Hughes and there was considerable relief when Drogba, having climbed above Andy O’Brien to reach a cross, drifted a header across goal.

Newcastle, though, began to win the battle in the air up front and when Shearer flicked a header across the penalty box Ameobi shrugged off Abdoulaye Meite to set himself up for a fantastic opportunity.

He must have been close enough to see the sweat on Fabien Barthez’s shaven pate only for the France keeper to save with his legs.

That save was matched by Shay Given, making his 300th career appearance, in the 25th minute when, not for the first time, Hugo Viana had a pass intercepted and Marseille seized on the chance like wolves scenting a kill. Drogba’s pace sent him scampering into the Newcastle area where he cut inside O’Brien and aimed for the corner only to see Given stretch out an arm to save.

Shearer’s strength up front was impressive. He won a free-kick wide on the left, fouled by Marseille skipper Brahim Hemdani, and then timed his jump to meet Laurent Robert’s penetrating ball in only to see his header glance wide.

As half-time approached Ameobi displayed some lovely footwork to get past Meite and Hemdani but Barthez was smartly place to snuff out his cross from the byline.

Within seconds of the re-start, only Woodgate’s brilliance had prevented Marseille taking the lead.

Sylvain N’Diaye ghosted past Hughes and Drogba was poised to slide home his low centre only for Woodgate to just get there first.

Buoyed by that escape, Newcastle surged down the other end. Ameobi won a free-kick 20 yards from goal, cue a Shearer piledriver that Barthez could only block then gaze in relief as Gary Speed spooned the rebound wide.

The match remained terrifically even. Drogba threatened when Speed caught Viana’s carelessness bug, then Robert brought a good save out of Barthez with a long-distance direct free-kick.

Drogba’s talent blazed fiercely in the 65th minute when he came within a couple of millimetres of giving Marseille the lead.

Robert was the guilty man this time, allowing Ferreira to steal the ball and float a cross to Drogba who unleashed a fabulous left-foot volley that struck the inside of the post and bounced across the face of the goal.

Michael Bridges replaced the tiring Ameobi for the final 12 minutes, and there were nervous moments for the visitors when Speed and O’Brien were both denied in a penalty-box scramble.

The match ended amid high drama as Drogba again threatened, flashing a shot over the crossbar from a good position, then Bridges seized onto Ferreira’s mis-hit clearance before pulling his shot across Barthez’s goal.

As time ticked away, Given stifled Drogba’s effort at the near-post then in injury time the Newcastle keeper came charging out of goal to deny the striker once more.