Levadia Tallinn 0 Newcastle United 1: Sibierski's debut strike gives edge to Newcastle

The Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder has promised that the £10m striker Obafemi Martins would rediscover his touch in front of goal. The 21-year-old Nigerian is still awaiting his first strike for the club after three games, and it was left to the debutant Antoine Sibierski to claim victory over Levadia Tallinn in their Uefa Cup match last night.

Sibierski edged the Magpies towards the group stage of the competition with a 10th-minute header from Damien Duff's free-kick but Martins, despite looking sharper, was left to rue a series of missed opportunities to open his account in the first-leg clash.

Roeder said: "I have no concerns. I see him every day in training and I watch him practise and his finishing is deadly. It's just getting the first one which often is the most difficult. But when he gets that first one and he gets more used to playing with us and us with him, I am sure the goals will come on a regular basis."

Sibierski's goal secured a first win in three games in front of a crowd of 7,917. But Newcastle's inability to convert pressure into goals, coupled with a loss of shape after a reshuffle after Titus Bramble's exit with injury, left Levadia Tallinn in with a chance at St James' Park in a fortnight's time.

Roeder was happy with the result, but admitted that he had been concerned at how several of his players appeared to tire after the break. "I am satisfied with the result. We have got an away goal and a clean sheet. The first-half performance was very good, but in the second half you have to say that at times we did not look as sharp as you would expect us to be... Five or six players looked tired with 20 minutes to go. But when we had to defend we defended a lot better tonight."

Roeder lost Bramble to knee and ankle injuries nine minutes before the break, and, while he has been reassured that the damage is not serious, he admitted he could miss Sunday's Premiership trip to West Ham.

The Levadia coach Tarmo Ruutli promised Newcastle an equally tough game in the second leg. "We will try to score away and to keep a clean sheet," he said. "This is our chance. Newcastle are strong at home but, on the other hand, they had a goalless draw against [the Latvian side] Ventspils [in the last round], so that Baltic experience is something we should call upon.

"Of course we wished to score a goal, but unfortunately the chances we created we could not score from. The opponents were mostly thinking about the win without expending to much effort for it and in that they succeeded."

Levadia Tallinn (4-4-2): Kotenko; Sisov, Lemsalu, Cepauskas, Kalimullin; Nahk, Dmitrijev, Vassiljev, Dovydenas; Voskoboinikov, Andreev. Substitutes not used: Stonys, Deniss Malov, Regelskis, Sander Puri, Marmor, Kink, Purje.

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Given; Carr, Bramble (Milner, 36), Moore, Ramage; Duff, Parker, Emre, N'Zogbia (Butt, 73); Sibierski, Martins. Substitutes not used: Harper (gk), Luque, Huntington, Bernard, Pattison.

Referee: M Ingvarsson (Sweden).