Football story by Boris Webb, Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:32:01 GMT


Striker Obafemi Martins was in great touch as Newcastle United swept past Zulte Waregem 1-3 to give themselves every chance of progressing to the last 16 in the UEFA Cup. The Magpies are almost certain to qualify and only a bad performance at St James' Park next week can stop them.

Frederic Dindeleux started off the scoring albeit for the wrong side as he put a Kieron Dyer cross into his own net. That brought some life to a lifeless game and when Damien Duff was fouled in the penalty box; Martins easily converted to make it 0-2 for the visitors.

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However Karel D'Haene got a consolation goal for the home side and just when things were looking tough for Newcastle, Antoine Sibierski's brilliant run sealed the win for Newcastle.

Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder was delighted with the win and hoped it would be enough for his side to progress, "I'm very pleased to come away from anywhere in Europe with a win, but I was disappointed we conceded. We should have done better with the free kick that led to the goal and not giving a foul away would have helped," he observed.

Zulte-Waregem coach Franck Dury: admitted that the road ahead was rocky. "When we got back to 2-1 we were playing well, but they were very dangerous when they change from defence to attack and we did not cope with that," he added.