By Matthew Jones
July 25 2003

Newcastle will now play in the final of the Asia Cup against either Chelsea of Malaysia on Sunday while Birmingham will now play in a third-place play off on Saturday. FULL MATCH REPORT now online. Newcastle United kicked off their Asia Cup campaign today, with a 2-1 victory over Premiership rivals, Birmingham City.

Both teams got off to a slow start, although Manchester United and Chelsea target Kieron Dyer was in impressive form.

Craig Bellamy's pace was also causing some problems for the Blues - which went on to lead to the first goal. Alan Shearer slotted home from the penalty spot to give Newcastle United a half time lead.

HT: Birmingham City 1 - 2 Newcastle United

It looked like Steve Bruce had given his Birmingham side a decent team-talk, as they came out and started to cause problems to the Newcastle back four. With 19 minutes remaining, the Blues earned themselves a penalty, which Paul Devlin slotted home to put Birmingham back on level terms.

However, just three minutes later, it Shola Ameobi climbed high above the Blues defence to head home a winning goal from a superb Craig Bellamy cross.

Newcastle will now play in the final of the Asia Cup against either Chelsea of Malaysia on Sunday while Birmingham will now play in a third-place play off on Saturday.

Teams:

Newcastle: Harper, Griffin, Bramble, O'Brien, Bernard, Dyer, Bowyer, Speed, Robert, Bellamy, Shearer. Subs: Given, Solano, Jenas, Cort, Ambrose, Hughes, Ameobi, Woodgate, Chopra, Caldwell, Viana.

Birmingham: Bennett, Damien Johnson, Cunningham, Upson, Clapham, Savage, Dunn, Clemence, Lazaridis, Horsfield, Dugarry. Subs: Doyle, Kenna, Devlin, John, Carter, Tebily, Hughes, Purse.

Referee: R Styles (Hampshire)

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