Luque strike sees off Palermo
Albert Luque finds the net for Newcastle
Also In The News
|
Manchester United lost 1-0 to Copenhagen in the Champions League after a series of changes in the starting line-up failed to pay off for Sir Alex Ferguson. |  |
Thursday, 02, Nov 2006 10:42
Newcastle made it two wins out of two in the Uefa Cup group stage with a battling 1-0 away win over Palermo.
The game opened at a furious pace with both the Magpies and their Italian opponents attacking freely in the first quarter of an hour.
Palermo had comprehensively dispatched Glenn Roeder's former club West Ham earlier in the competition and their firepower was clear to see as striker Andrea Caracciolo twice went close early on.
However, Newcastle looked equally dangerous and the pace and invention of James Milner threatened to expose the Serie A team's rearguard on several occasions.
After the free-flowing opening to the game, both sides regained composure at the back and the match settled into a less frenetic pace.
So much so that when Albert Luque nodded in Milner's cross ten minutes from the interval the goal came as something of a surprise to the travelling Newcastle fans.
Tim Krul, the 18-year old Dutch stopper deputising for the injured Shay Given, had had relatively little to deal with but was called into action by long-range efforts from Caracciolo and Franco Brienza as the half drew to a close.
As the visitors poured forward after the interval he impressed further with a smart double save from the lively Caracciolo and Mattia Cassani's follow up.
The second half mirrored the first, however, with Titus Bramble and Craig Moore swiftly reasserting themselves at the heart of the back four and shoring up the defensive effort.
In the end Luque's third goal for the club proved sufficient as the dispirited Sicilians ran out of ideas for breaking down the stubborn Premiership outfit.