By The Journal
October 30 2002

After going a goal down on 47 minutes, Newcastle fought back and beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1. Gary Speed got the equaliser, and Alan Shearer was the person to get the winning goal - from the spot - in the second half to keep The Magpies Champions League hope alive. If Newcastle go on to claim second place in Group E of the Champions League then the name of Jose Javier Losantos Omar deserves to pass into legend.

The Spanish official began last night's fixture in glorious anonymity, wrapped in his silver tracksuit and clutching the plastic board which indicates substitutions and time to be added at the end of each half.

Yet Señor Losantos Omar ended this pivotal match in United's European history as the unlikely figure at the centre of a controversial and highly-charged fixture.

When designated referee Juan Antonio Fernandez Marin pulled his hamstring late in the first half, his fellow countryman could hardly have imagined he would be required to make the decision which would ultimately keep the Magpies' Champions League dream alive.

Yet Losantos Omar hardly hesitated as he awarded Alan Shearer the 68th-minute penalty which allowed Newcastle's skipper to convert his side's famous winner.

And the fourth official continued to make a series of first-rate decisions as he refused to allow Dynamo's increasingly desperate play-acting to influence his view of the game.

Now United travel to Feyenoord's De Kuip in a fortnight's time with the realistic hope that they can qualify for the second group phase and complete one of the greatest Champions League comebacks in the competition's 10-year history.

But the true depth of Sir Bobby Robson's bench will be tested to the limit after a night when the referee was not the only individual affected by injury.

Only three years ago it would have been unthinkable for Newcastle's boss to name players of the calibre of Kieron Dyer, Nikos Dabizas and Shay Given in reserve, but such is the strength of the current Magpies squad that the decision hardly diminished the starting 11.

Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko was equally confident as he chose to name playmaker Florin Cernat as one of his seven substitutes. But this was a Dynamo team with a brief to defend gallantly and break swiftly in possession.

For all his ability the canny Romanian is a luxury player and this was a night when one point would suffice for the well-drilled visitors.

Central to Kiev's tactical masterplan was the now infamous Tiberiu Ghioane, and there is much more to Cernat's fellow countryman than an ability to provoke hot-headed Welshmen. The tidy midfielder-turned-sweeper possesses pace, speed of thought and distribution to die for - although an uncharacteristic sliced clearance almost presented a fit Nolberto Solano with Newcastle's first opening of the match.

What followed was a period of forgettable sparring punctuated by a series of potentially inviting free-kicks. Solano's 13th-minute delivery caused untold confusion in the Dynamo defence and Gary Speed, who came within an inch of scoring against Charlton on Saturday, will wonder how he failed to make decent contact with the Peruvian's well-measured centre.

Four minutes later Yuriy Dmytrulin attempted to profit from a mistimed Solano tackle but his firmly struck free kick cannoned off Steve Harper's immovable wall. Laurent Robert, already emerging as the home team's most effective attacking outlet, swung in the poorest of the three dead ball opportunities much to the disquiet of a noisy St James's crowd.

Yet the Frenchman immediately sought to atone for that rare lapse in concentration as he began to exercise a vice-like grip on the Newcastle left. In the 21st minute Robert launched a looping cross to the far post and Shola Ameobi's goalbound header was diverted wide by the back-tracking Goran Gavrancic. The left winger then orchestrated his side's best move of the half as he found Ameobi on the edge of the Dynamo area. United's England Under-21 international moved the ball to Solano, rolled his man, and reached the Peruvian's return in an instant.

A weak right-foot shot was no reward for approach play of the highest quality and Robson must have feared his team would live to regret Ameobi's frustrating profligacy.

Robert, meanwhile, was undeterred and a 32nd-minute free-kick found the diving Nikos Dabizas but the Greek's header was well watched by Vitaliy Reva. If Newcastle's £10m signing from Paris-Saint Germain was proving his Champions League pedigree, then Ghioane was doing his best to upstage the roving Reunion islander.

A crunching tackle on Jermaine Jenas prevented a certain shot on goal and with Kiev in possession the ginger-haired libero raced the length of the pitch in search of Badr El Kaddouri's pass. Much to the relief of Andy Griffin, the Moroccan sold his colleague short.

By now, United were already without Titus Bramble - the hamstrung centre-half having been replaced by Nikos Dabizas. After the break, Newcastle's defensive concerns escalated into a crisis as Andy O'Brien failed to reappear. A bad back accounted for the unlucky Irishman and substitute Olivier Bernard had barely taken a touch when Robson's night took a further turn for the worse.

Dynamo's Bulgarian midfielder Georgi Peev charged at the heart of the United back four before reversing a neat pass into Maksim Shatskikh's path. The Uzbekistan international, who scored in Kiev last month, lashed an unstoppable drive beyond Steve Harper.

Newcastle's Champions League hopes were, as they have been all season, hanging by a thread but within 10 minutes the home team were level. A sustained spell of pressure immediately following Shatskikh's opener resulted in a fourth successive corner and Gary Speed met Solano's centre with a header far too hot for Reva.

The Kiev keeper got two hands on the Welshman's effort, but still the ball broke the back of the Dynamo net.

Ghioane was stunned, his colleagues speechless. Such a spirited comeback was never in Mykhaylychenko's pre-match script, but worse was to follow for the now disorientated visitors.

Harper maintained parity with a crucial save from Shatskikh, only for Dabizas to assume the role as Newcastle's very own Ghioane. The Greek international launched a competent cross towards Shearer and Andriy Husin panicked. The lanky defender tugged at his opponent's shirt in full view of Losantos Omar and the former fourth official pointed directly at the spot.

Those hopes that were hanging by a thread could now be resurrected by a player who would give everything to prolong his side's epic European journey.

Shearer, without a Group E goal to his name, coolly ended a five-and-a-half hour wait to open his account with a consummate penalty which rendered Reva helpless.

Dynamo substitutes Diogo Rincon and Cernat both came close, but somehow United, like the Spanish referee, stood firm.