THE last time Belgian opposition visited St James' Park was Newcastle's first night of European football under the stewardship of Kevin Keegan.

It was a party night on Tyneside with the Magpies boasting a virtually unassailable 5-0 lead, and an impressive second-leg performance saw them to a comfortable 9-1 aggregate win over Royal Antwerp.

But while it was a case of putting on the style back in 1994, this time it was more of a case of mission accomplished with the minimum of effort.

The only party atmosphere was in the pubs and clubs of Newcastle with the city's revellers more than happy to take full advantage of the late licences granted for the ill-fated Love Parade.

With around a quarter of St James Park closed on Saturday, the atmosphere was muted despite the excellent turnout, with the most memorable sound of the first half coming from the over-regular use of German referee Edgar Steinborn's whistle.

It certainly wasn't a game that will linger long in anyone's memory, and those watching in on events across Europe - especially in Munich - will have not been overly impressed with the quality of football on offer.

Lokeren proved to be a very poor side and in the shape of substitute Alen Mrzlecki possessed a player whose sole aim appeared to be to make life as difficult a possible for his teammates.

His first touch, after coming on as a 24th-minute substitute, was a back pass that wasn't as much misguided as comical.

Shola Ameobi couldn't believe his luck with the ball played straight to his feet in the box, leaving him with a one on one with the impressive Dabanovic.

As Bobby Robson said "he has to take those sort of chances", but the teenager took the wrong option, allowing the goalkeeper to smother when he tried to round him.

The Mrzlecki show was far from finished, and after a few more misguided challenges another slip up in the 39th minute allowed Ameobi to cross but there were no black and white shirts closing in on goal and Nolberto Solano's return cross was cleared.

But the substitute from hell saved his best for the second half and after several more challenges that could best be described as agricultural, including a rugby tackle on Lomana LuaLua, the referee eventually gave him his marching orders for what appeared to be dissent.

The first half saw Newcastle squander several chances starting with Craig Bellamy in the ninth minute. Their best move of the game saw Wayne Quinn slide a crossfield pass through to Ameobi on the edge of the box whose delightful dummy was straight into Bellamy's path.

The new man fired across Dabanovic but the keeper palmed the ball away and the rebound found Ameobi unable to hit the target from a tight angle.

That was as good as it got in footballing terms throughout the game, and the Ameobi-Bellamy link up did not carry on from where it left off in Belgium.

Robson expects big things from his teenage striker in the next few years but feels he needs time to develop.

"We forget that he is only a 'bairn' but he's going to be some player. When he's 23 or 24 he's going to be a real handful."

But Shola and United's hard work had been done in Belgium a week earlier and the priority for Bobby Robson's men was to get through the 90 minutes with the minimum of fuss and to avoid injuries.

That didn't quite go to plan with Christian Bassedas limping out with a groin injury, but Robson will be pleased to see his new striker Bellamy getting on the scoresheet in only his second game.

The goal came in the 60th minute after good work from Bassedas on the left saw him cross for Solano to head down and Bellamy steer home.

The turnout of 29,000 was a new record for the competition, but with Munich 1860 arriving next week that record will no doubt stand for just ten days.

"A massive crowd for a match like this when you're 4-0 up away from home in the middle of July. That's just indicative of what they (the fans) are all about," said Robson.

"The crowd was terrific and although I wouldn't think they were expecting an avalanche of goals, they'd think when you win 4-0 away from home you expect to win 5-0 at home, but it never works like that.

"The object of the exercise was to get through and two weeks ago if you had said to me you'll win 5-0 on aggregate I would have accepted that."

Wednesday will be a far tougher affair but the old warhorse Robson will no doubt relish locking horns again with German opponents.

He was quick to point out that Munich 1860 will be a different proposition to Saturday, saying: "It's a Bundesliga team and they'll be well organised. We know a lot about them and we're away first and then back here at home when it should be a pretty good game."

But first stop is Munich and that is where the game could be won or lost, with a vast improvement on Saturday's performance required if Newcastle are to head home with anything to show from their travels.

Read more about here.