Sir Bobby revels in 'greatest night'

It was a tale of two strikers. One absent, one present. The fact the latter wore the black and white of Newcastle United FC meant it was the English Premiership side who advanced into the second group stage of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night.

Inspirational Bellamy
Welsh international Craig Bellamy was the inspiration behind this 3-2 victory over Feyenoord which took Sir Bobby Robson's men into the last 16 alongside Group E winners Juventus FC. Bellamy returned from a three-game European suspension to leave his mark on a magnificent Matchday Six encounter. And then some.

Late surge
"He hasn't played for three and a half weeks. I thought he just might give us that last 20-yard surge to give us a goal," said Sir Bobby. That surge came in the last minute after goalkeeper Patrick Lodewijks had saved from Kieron Dyer, leaving Bellamy to turn in the rebound.

Slick football
In his absence, Bellamy's team-mates had picked up two wins and the necessary confidence to take the tie to Feyenoord at De Kuip. For the first hour, they had "looked comfortable", continued the Newcastle manager. And their reward for some slick football had come on the stroke of half-time when Bellamy latched on to Alan Shearer's flick to tuck the ball under Lodewijks. The old one-two.

'Problems with Shearer'
"We had problems with Shearer and Bellamy," said Feyenoord coach Bert van Marwijk. "Newcastle always look first for Shearer, and that's how they scored their first." Bellamy had been struggling with a knee injury; but the only discomfiture on a chilly night in Rotterdam was that felt by the Feyenoord defence whenever the No10 ran at them. When Hugo Viana doubled the lead three minutes into the second half, Newcastle's points looked secure.

Feyenoord transformed
But, said their manager, "we went from safety to scary". The reason was Van Marwijk's 49th-minute substitution of midfield player Chong-Gug Song for striker Mariano Bombarda. "Bert made a change which changed the game - sticking four up front. Paul Bosvelt left his defensive duties and then the game flowed." Suddenly Feyenoord were transformed. Until Bombarda's arrival, Feyenoord had looked like a team without a Champions League goal since Matchday Two.

Van Hooijdonk injured
While Sir Bobby could gamble on Bellamy, his opposite number had had no such luxury with Pierre van Hooijdonk, whose absence through injury had coincided with the defeats by FC Dynamo Kyiv and Juventus. No coincidence, of course.

'Only one team in it'
A side in the industrial image of Rotterdam, they had made their supporters work hard, but after Bombarda scored their first goal on 64 minutes, then teed up Anthony Lurling for a fine second, this blue-collar club threatened to join the blue-chips in the second group stage. "Had they scored to make it 3-2 they would have gone through," conceded Robson. "In fact, with 15 minutes to go there was only one team that was going to win it - and that was Feyenoord."

'History created'
Instead, though, it was Newcastle who "created a bit of history" on Robson's "greatest night" by reaching the second stage for the first time in their history. With Feyenoord pushing for the goal that would propel them past Newcastle and Dynamo in the group table, that man Bellamy struck. "It was quite lucky - the keeper parried it somewhere near the goal to me and I was lucky it went in," said the Newcastle hero. "It turned into a great game at the end."