標題: Bramble the unlikely hero for Newcastle [打印本頁] 作者: nosesroh 時間: 11-8-2006 11:41 AM 標題: Bramble the unlikely hero for Newcastle
Titus Bramble recovered from a nightmare start to emerge as Newcastle's unlikely UEFA Cup hero with a second-half winner in the 1-0 win over FK Ventspils in the Latvian capital.
Bramble could easily have been cast as the Magpies' villain after Igors Slesarcuks skated past him with just five minutes on the clock and forced an outstanding one-handed save from Shay Given.
Or when he was left rooted to the turf as Vladimirs Kolesnicenko rose between him and team-mate Celestine Babayaro to fire a 17th-minute header inches wide of the target.
But at a point when Ventspils were still capable of causing maximum embarrassment to Glenn Roeder's men, Bramble leapt to meet Emre's corner with a powerful goal-bound header in the 70th minute.
That will surely be enough to see the Magpies past the Latvian league leaders in the second leg of this second qualifying round tie back at St James' Park in a fortnight's time.
But Roeder will learn plenty of lessons from the challenge of Ventspils, who provided plenty of problems in particular during an often ragged first period.
Bramble's early blunder will have irritated Roeder who demanded his side cut out the defensive errors that had cost them six goals in their last two pre-season games.
And it soon became clear they could ill afford more blunders against a fit and motivated Ventspils side who boasted an unbeaten domestic record with more than three-quarters of their season gone.
Despite the debut of #5million man Damien Duff and a recall for Nicky Butt after he clambered off the bench to net two against Villarreal on Saturday, the visitors looked slow and rusty.
They had their own early chances to settle their nerves, with Emre's long-range effort almost deflected into his own net by Jean-Paul Ndjoumeck-Ndeki, and Scott Parker also having a shot knocked wide.
But after riding their luck a little, Newcastle's best chance of the half fell in the 27th minute, moments after Duff's ball across the face of goal had not been met by any of the lurking front men.
Amoebi was given a great chance by Nolberto Solano's precise through-ball but he poked at his shot from little more than eight yards out and it was blocked by a forest of defenders' legs.
Ventspils also continued to have their chances, Sergey Zangareev's dangerous-free kick well cleared by Stephen Carr and Kolesnicenko out-jumping Bramble again but failing to meet another Bicka cross.
Solano ended a disappointing first period by scooping his 25-yard free-kick straight into the arms of Ventspils keeper Andris Vanins before Roeder got the chance to re-organise his troops.
But the Magpies began the second half badly as they struggled to clear a corner then were rather fortunate to see Kaspars Gorkss miss the target with a long-range drive.
Andreys Butriks flashed a header wide from Zangareev's right-wing cross before Duff came close at the other end with a powerful effort which sailed just wide.
Newcastle broke well from a Ventspils corner in the 57th minute with Solano setting Duff free down the right but the home defence got back well and forced Parker to screw his follow-up effort wide.
Duff was presenting more of a threat to the tiring Latvian legs down the left but Amoebi was making little impression on the tough Ventspils central defensive pairing.
The former Stamford Bridge favourite then got behind the Ventspils defence on the left but having wriggled into the box could only direct his shot into the side-netting.
With the visitors finally finding their form up front, Amoebi lofted a cross which was inches too high for Solano to properly connect, and his shot sailed over the crossbar.
But Bramble came to the rescue to surely make the second leg a mere formality and allow Roeder's men to dream of European glory and much improved performances to come.
