JERMAINE Jenas last night vowed to make a first-team place his own at Newcastle this season - despite the club's "frightening" array of midfield talent.

The 19-year-old faces a hard fight just to get a spot on the bench, such is the competition for places at St James' Park.

But after impressing as a substitute against former club Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, Jenas intends to see off a posse of more experienced teammates.

He said: "Like everybody else, I know there are only two central midfield places up for grabs - and I want one of them.

"I'll be competing for my place as hard as the next man and I want to be involved, not sat on the bench or in the stand.

"But it is going to be tough to get into this Newcastle side. I'm part of a big squad that includes a lot of midfielders, and when I look around it's pretty frightening.

"Although we're a team and we're together, when it comes down to it nobody wants to miss out."

Sir Bobby Robson is expected to call on his old heads rather that his young tyros for a testing Champions League trip to either Lillestrom or Zeljeznicar on August 14.

But Jenas insists he would not be fazed by a trip to Sarajevo to face Zeljeznicar, who lead 1-0 after the first leg.

He said: "Playing in the Champions League would be an amazing experience for a player of my age, but I must set my targets high.

"It looks like Zeljeznicar are in the box seat and I'd love the chance to play in Bosnia, even though it would be tough.

"I'm confident in my ability and I'm happy with how I'm doing in pre-season. We need to iron out a few things but there are no major problems as far as I can tell."

Laurent Robert's hip injury is causing some concern at Newcastle, who travel to Wolves today without the Frenchman.

Andy O'Brien will also miss the friendly at Molineux, which comes three days before Barcelona visit St James' Park.

* Wolves assistant manager John Ward believes Paul Ince could provide the missing link to help steer the club into the Premiership.

The former England international is in talks with the Molineux outfit after turning down the offer of a new deal with Middlesbrough.

Ward believes the 34-year-old midfielder could be a valuable asset to the club.

He said: "Paul is a very good player. He has that bit of experience that could help our squad.

''I think that people turned their noses up a bit when we talk about signing older players like Denis Irwin but somewhere along the way I think we missed a bit of experience last season.

''We came very close to gaining promotion and just missed out."

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