Ventspils 0-1 Newcastle

Still nowt upfront, but then came Titus
Overall a professional performance away from home, but along with putting us in good stance for the home leg, it showed that we really need signings. Shola demonstrated he isn't quite the full predator yet. He was too often at the end of the defender queue, instead of in between it, and therefore didn't get the goal scoring chances that his overall play deserved. Man of the match was Emre, who worked tirelessly in midfield and provided some great tackles and runs forwards. His corner was once again perfect as he set up Titus Bramble to head home and send us back to Tyneside one nil to the good.

Big defensive worries, it needs working on. They represented nil-threat upfront meaning mistakes largely went unnoticed, on the plus side they did weather a late storm well, helped out by a capable and lively midfield.

I'm very pleased we won, I was getting stressed at the telly.

Message to Titus: You cannot do long passes, so please stop trying.