Given to use Iran experience tonight

Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given was planning to draw on the more colourful experiences of his career as he stepped into the unknown in Israel tonight.

The Republic of Ireland international has travelled the world with club and country and played in front of many hostile crowds – but even he did not know quite what to expect in Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan Stadium against Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin.

The Israeli cup winners, whose home lies some two hours’ drive away from the cosmopolitan city in which they were set to play the second leg of their UEFA Cup first-round tie, were sure to have a vocal support against Newcastle.

But Given, who took part in a World Cup play-off game against Iran in Tehran in November 2001, remained confident of handling whatever they might throw at him.

“I’ve been to Iran – that was probably the most hostile country I’ve ever been to – so if you can come through that one you can come through anything,” he said.

“It’s going to be hostile. But you expect that when you’re travelling in Europe – you’re expecting a bit of hostility. You’ve got to shut it all out. They can’t come on the pitch; they can’t influence the game – so you’ve just got to focus on your job and do what you’ve got to do on the pitch.”

The political situation in the Middle East gave rise to security fears when the draw was first made.

But Newcastle have been welcomed warmly as they prepared to make the most of the 2-0 lead they earned at St James’ Park a fortnight ago.

“It’s a strange one, but we’ve just got to focus on the job and the game - and not worry about anything else,” said Given.

“We’ll do that, and it’s up to other people in other departments to look after everything else.

“There’s no room for complacency. We have a two-goal lead and a good clean sheet, which is very important. We know what’s at stake and we know we have to do the job right. We hope to finish it off.”

Newcastle reached the semi-finals of the competition last season, and Given added: “It’s different this year with the group thing, but it would be nice to be in that.

“We had a great run last year. We got into the semi-final and we would have liked to have gone further. We had some big European nights along the way, and the fans had a good time as well – so I hope we can go even further this time.”