Newcastle take their place in next round

IT was introduced to the travelling Geordies as the nicest stadium in Sweden. But the fans and players of Newcastle United will take home mixed memories. A stunning volley from Les Ferdinand ensured Newcastle's place in Friday's draw but Halmstad were left rueing their display a fortnight ago and that their goals came too late last night to ever have Newcastle wobbling.

The avoidance of injuries followed a safe passage through into the next round on the list of Newcastle priorities particularly as Peter Beardsley and David Ginola were already missing from the action.

Newcastle had a 4-0 cushion from the first leg but, with the knowledge that Halmstad had put three past Parma here last season, an early goal would ease any minor worries that still existed. Halmstad's manager, Tom Prahl, clearly had the same concern as he dropped his goalkeeper, Nordberg, from the St James Park line-up.

Nordberg had been at fault for two of the goals that night while Srniecek had an almost save-free evening. That situation was reversed immediately when the Czech goalkeeper fumbled a skidding shot from Vougt in the opening minute.

Neither was the resulting corner dealt with in a completely convincing manner by the Magpie defence. Warren Barton, on his first start since March, looked edgy and vulnerable, while David Batty's hands were high after only two minutes in a confrontation with Lennartsson.

After that initial nervousness, though, Newcastle soon settled with Gillespie prominent down the right and Asprilla, nominally left-wing, revelling in a roaming role.

It was a sly, intelligent pass from the Columbian, in the ninth minute, that created the best opportunity early on. Shearer ran onto the ball inside Arvidsson and met it sweetly but it went narrowly wide.

Two minutes before the break, Gillespie cut inside for the first time and fed Ferdinand. Tommy Andersson was tight on Ferdinand but was flummoxed by Ferdinand's magnificent swivel and volley. The ball was in the back of the net before Hakan Svensson had time to blink.

If that effectively killed the contest then no one told Halmstad. Straight after the interval Vougt had Srnicek diving once again as the physical Swedes continued to battle. Fifteen minutes later a routine clearance bypassed everyone leaving Vougt free to run at Srnicek again.

A quarter of an hour from time Halmstad got the reward their commitment merited when Arvidsson beat Peacock to a ricochet and forced the ball in from a yard. Five minutes later and Halmstad were ahead and it followed a similar pattern to the equaliser. This time it was Magnus Svensson beating Clark to the rebound after Srnicek had parried from Vougt.