Shearer secures a home advantage

After a frenzied few days following Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer's on-field altercation against Aston Villa on Saturday, superlative skipper Alan Shearer scored his 192nd goal for the Magpies to take him to within eight of Jackie Milburn's club record.

But it was not Shearer's achievements, nor was it the fact that Newcastle avoided conceding an away goal ahead of next Thursday's second leg that this game will be remembered for.

For that honour look no further than bad-boy Bowyer.

Omitted from the starting line-up last night, in an ironic twist of fate the 28-year-old replaced Saturday's boxing opponent Dyer just after the hour because of injury.

And, after Bowyer's name was greeted by a minority of boos before the first whistle, he was incredibly given a rousing reception and a standing ovation by thousands as he entered the field of play as a substitute during the second period.

In the end Bowyer contributed to Newcastle's narrow first leg victory and it keeps Newcastle on track for their first trophy since 1969.

But the late Sporting surge was evidence enough to suggest that the return leg at the Estadio Jose Alvalade next week will not be straight forward.

Nevertheless Newcastle have given themselves every chance of booking a last four place against either AZ Alkmaar or Villarreal - which would be a chance to banish the memories of losing to Marseille at that stage a year ago.

Dyer, the one to be exonerated from the moment the punch-up took place, retained his place in the starting line-up but Bowyer, the villain of the piece in the club's eyes, was only named on the bench.

Just to be included in the 19-man squad showed Souness is being true to his word that the player is to be given a final chance and that was further highlighted by his 62nd minute introduction.

And the fans have also been convinced.

Saturday's highly controversial incident was far from ideal in Souness' preparations but Sporting were in an equal state of flux following the fall-out from their weekend match with Boavista.

The two men at the centre of allegations of attacking an executive director from their rivals, Rui Jorge and Sa Pinto, also found themselves given public backing by their own boss, Jose Peseiro, by way of a first XI place.

The distractions felt by the two teams during the build-up clearly had an effect on the game's early play. Neither appeared to have the fluency in their passing while the two goalkeepers were never tested for much of the first half.

In fact the only occasion Sporting's Ricardo was troubled during that spell was when he spent four minutes receiving treatment from a head wound sustained by the late studs of Shola Ameobi.

Despite the frustrations of the home support, Ricardo had been injured in the collision and looked dazed and confused for 20 minutes while his deputy, Tiago Ferreira, warmed up down the line.

But Sporting gave their shaken shot-stopper plenty of protection and Newcastle failed to make the most of the situation. Only Jermaine Jenas had an effort and that flew harmlessly over.

However to Newcastle's favour, Robert suddenly sparked into life on the attack.

After seeing one of his powerful corners bounce off the woodwork, the Frenchman delivered a set-piece masterclass to tee Shearer up on two separate occasions and find the net on both.

The first of those, after Liedson was ruled out of the second leg following a booking for a foul on Aaron Hughes, was disallowed because the free-kick was taken too quickly.

But there was no such luck for Sporting with the second.

Robert picked out the unmarked Shearer who turned the centre from the left flank beyond a static Ricardo with a trademark header eight minutes before the break.

At the other end Sporting showed plenty of nice touches but lacked the killer touch and final ball.

The lead settled Newcastle down as half-time approached and Dyer, ignored by the boo-boys, performed well in the circumstances.

There was an element of disappointment, however, when Hughes picked up a yellow card which means he also misses the return leg.

As well as the Bowyer-Dyer fiasco on Saturday, there was also a hugely disappointing performance to improve on when a 12-match unbeaten run came to an end.

One of the main culprits against Aston Villa was Andy O'Brien but he helped to keep a makeshift defence in order last night alongside young centre-back Steven Taylor.

The back five was forced into a change after the interval, though, when Given, on his 50th European appearance for the club, suffered a hip injury which is likely to keep him out of Sunday's game at Spurs, and had to be replaced by Steve Harper.

But Sporting's ability on the front foot was always something Newcastle had to guard against. Knocking Middlesbrough out in the last 16 was proof of their threat.

And midfielder Fabio Rochemback, on loan from Barcelona, had a shot zip wide which acted as the sort of reminder Newcastle needed.

In a strange twist which infuriated the Gallowgate, Robert was replaced by youngster James Milner despite causing Rogerio all manner of problems down the left wing.

And then the same set of fans bizarrely stood to applaud the introduction of Bowyer when Dyer trudged off the pitch holding his hamstring.

Not one to shirk his responsibilities, Bowyer took just seven minutes to work his way into Russian referee Yuri Baskakov's notebook when he was booked for a swipe at Sa Pinto's legs.

And it sparked a hotly contested end to the game, which should have seen Newcastle go two goals to the good but Milner struck just over the bar after controlling Stephen Carr's long ball well with his chest.

Shola Ameobi also shot just wide after bursting beyond the Sporting defence in what could have been a comfortable win by the end. Instead, while still a promising result for Newcastle, there is still work to be done in Lisbon.

Result: Newcastle United 1 Sporting Lisbon 0.

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