AFTER seeing the match as the biggest game of his European career, Alan Shearer scored arguably his most important goal in a Newcastle United shirt to keep alive their hopes of performing a remarkable Champions' League Houdini act.

Shearer converted a 68th minute penalty awarded after he had been held down by Dynamo Kiev defender Andrii Husin to secure the victory, which gave Newcastle the chance to qualify for the second round in their final Group E match at Feyenoord a fortnight today.

The Magpies beat Kiev the hard way, bouncing back after conceding a goal less than two minutes into the second half to see off the Ukrainians.

After Gary Speed had equalised for Newcastle, Shearer kept his composure to slot home from the spot and clinch his side's third win at St James' Park in a week.

At the same end of the stadium that he had a penalty saved by Sunderland's Thomas Sorensen two years ago, the talismanic captain sent Kiev goalkeeper Vitalii Reva the wrong way with his low shot.

And after three successive European defeats left the Toon Army wondering if their side would go down in Champions' League infamy, they will head to Rotterdam confident that Shearer can lead them into the last 16.

Newcastle could not repeat the buccaneering performance that saw off Juventus last week, but it mattered not one jot as they delivered a result that keeps the group's outcome in the balance until the final set of fixtures.

After struggling to assert themselves in the opening exchanges and surviving the occasional late scare, Sir Bobby Robson's side were worthy winners and ended the game looking the most likely team to score again.

Laurent Robert could not put a foot right in the early stages, every pass of his finding a Kiev player or otherwise eluding a teammate as the flamboyant Frenchman grew increasingly exasperated.

Soon Robert found his rhythm and twice came desperately close to linking with Shola Ameobi to devastating effect as they exploited weaknesses in a Kiev rearguard that leaked five goals against Juventus this month.

First, Ameobi was denied when he got on the end of Robert's pinpoint back post cross, but saw his header strike Goran Gavrancic and deflect wide.

Shortly afterwards, Ameobi was involved in a move three times, winning possession in his own half before exchanging passes with Robert and Nolberto Solano, only to slide his low shot agonisingly wide of Kiev goalkeeper Reva's left-hand post.

After a nervy, error-strewn opening, Newcastle were beginning to ask serious questions of Kiev, who knew victory would confirm their place in the second round.

The loss of Titus Bramble because of a thigh injury after just 26 minutes, and the arrival of Nikos Dabizas, did not disrupt the Magpies as they tried to make their aerial dominance count.

Dabizas had been on the pitch for five minutes when he found himself in space in the Kiev penalty area, but his header from Robert's free-kick was too close to Reva.

As expected of an accomplished side from Continental Europe, the visitors were looking dangerous on the counter-attack, but they lacked the fire-power that Andrei Shevchenko and Sergei Rebrov once gave them.

Maksim Shatskikh flashed a header just wide of Steve Harper's far post, but more often than not Newcastle were able to breathe a sigh of relief after the Ukrainians' final ball let them down.

Captain Valentin Belkevich hit a free-kick into the wall, but Harper making his second successive Champions' League appearance ahead of Shay Given, was rarely troubled in the first half.

Newcastle found themselves in the unusual and highly unfortunate position of losing both starting centre-backs after 45 minutes as Andy O'Brien was forced to withdraw with a back problem.

While Aaron Hughes was still trying to acclimatise to playing at the heart of the defence, he was culpable as Kiev went in front.

Georgi Peev was allowed to advance deep into Newcastle's territory without a single attempt to halt his progress, and his through ball was straight into Shatskikh's path.

The striker had stolen a yard on Hughes, and as the defender tried to recover his ground and Harper advanced off his goalline, Shatskikh lifted his shot over the goalkeeper and into the net.

Wounded, Newcastle tried to grab an immediate equaliser, but Reva dealt comfortably with a succession of crosses that were launched into the Kiev penalty box.

The goalkeeper also proved Jermaine Jenas's equal after 54 minutes.

He clung on to the midfielder's fierce long range drive as the home side searched for a way back into the match and they were gifted a lifeline by Reva just three minutes later.

He failed to deal with Speed's diving header from Solano's corner, and the ball squirmed over the line.

Having worked hard to restore parity, Newcastle almost threw it away two minutes after the equaliser when Shatskikh ran clear.

The forward checked inside Hughes but his low shot was blocked by Harper, who was relieved to see Kiev fail to direct the ball goalwards as he scrambled back into position.

The Robert-Ameobi partnership almost produced a second goal for Newcastle shortly before Shearer's penalty as the England U21 International's header sailed harmlessly off target.

Result: Newcastle United 2 Dynamo Kiev 1.

Read more about Newcastle United FC here.