Newcastle and Boro in sight of UEFA Cup last 16
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

PARIS (France): Bitter English north-eastern rivals Newcastle and Middlesbrough edged closer to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup after Graeme Souness’s Magpies clinched a 2-1 third round first leg win at Heerenveen while Boro drew 2-2 at GAK of Austria.

But Newcastle’s come-from-behind win was marred by a red-card for controversial midfielder Lee Bowyer who was dismissed in the 85th minute, just three minutes after scoring the winner.

Newcastle had fallen behind to a Klaas Jan Huntelaar goal when the Dutchman confidently buried a left-foot drive past keeper Shay Given in the 24th minute.

Veteran striker and club skipper Alan Shearer came to the rescue with a 68th minute equaliser to register his 14th goal of the season.

“We felt there was not a lot in it in the first half - only a defensive mistake gave them the impetus,” said Shearer.

“But we knew there would be chances in the second half and we knew they did not have the same fitness we did.”

Dutch duo Boudewijn Zenden and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored the goals to give Middlesbrough a 2-2 draw in Graz.

Zenden opened the scoring after 51 minutes beating three defenders before slotting the ball home.

The lead lasted until the 64th minute when Croatian Mario Bazina levelled but Hasselbaink restored the advantage straight from the restart with a header from a Stewart Downing cross.

GAK clawed their way back into the tie when Roland Kollmann scored from a free-kick. However, the striker was then sent-off for a second bookable offence when he was booked for diving.

Boro will be favourites to progress when the second leg is held at the Riverside next week.

“We had to win this game easily but we gave two silly goals away and the referee helped them with every free-kick,” said Hasselbaink.

“But at the end of the day it’s our fault - we let two goals in when we were comfortable. It’s not a bad result but it would have been better if we had won 2-1.”

Spanish side Villarreal also have the upper hand in their tie with Dynamo Kiev after battling out a 0-0 draw in Ukraine while Fenerbahce, with former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker Nicolas Anelka in their line-up, slipped to a 1-0 home defeat to Real Zaragoza.●