GRAEME Souness has warned his Newcastle United players to expect another dose of rough-house tactics as they look to progress to the second round of the UEFA Cup in Israel tonight.

The Magpies are firm favourites against Israeli minnows Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin after a comfortable 2-0 first-leg win on Tyneside two weeks ago.

But that success was marred by the second-half dismissal of Nicky Butt, just 133 seconds after he had come on to the field as a substitute, and a series of questionable challenges that went unpunished by the Portuguese referee.

Sakhnin's spoiling tactics proved surprisingly effective, with Butt's moment of madness capping a lacklustre second-half display.

The Israeli side are almost certain to employ the same game plan in Tel Aviv's Ramat Gan Stadium tonight, but Souness is confident his side has both the technique and the temperament to rise above it.

"Their game plan will be quite simple - get us involved in some argy bargy," said Souness, who has a 100 per cent record from his three games as Newcastle boss. "They want us to be involved in non-footballing stuff.

"I think it will be more of the same from them. They will set out to frustrate us and try to prevent the game from being a free-flowing football match.

"They'll be trying to break the game up at every opportunity in an attempt to stop us getting into any kind of rhythm at all. So it's up to us, along with the referee, to make sure it's a football match in the proper sense.

"We know what to expect because we've seen the colour of their eyes in the first leg. We mustn't allow ourselves to get caught up in what we got caught up in during the second half of that game.

"It won't be easy, but it's up to us to do whatever we have to do to get through this tie."

Sakhnin's tackling will be aggressive, but it is unlikely to be any more rough than the questioning Souness was subjected to at his pre-match press conference in the Ramat Gan Stadium last night.

The Palestinian media accused the Scot of falling for 'Hebrew propaganda' which had labelled the Arabic side overly confrontational in the first leg - a claim which Souness batted away with aplomb.

The Newcastle boss refused to be drawn into a political slanging match, although he did concede that tonight's game would amount to more than a normal football match to a Sakhnin side flying the flag for Israel's 1.1 million Arabs.

"I think history shows you that sport does build bridges," said Souness. "If we can help in any small way then we should encourage it.

"Sport can help to ease many problems and I'd like to think that football can play its part in this country.

"We live 2,500 miles from here but we're fully aware of the problems within Israel and, if we can help in any way, that would be great.

"But empathy and sympathy won't come into it once the whistle blows.

"We're professionals and we're here to do a job."

Tonight's game is Newcastle's 60th in the various guises of the UEFA Cup, with the Magpies going all the way to the last four of last year's competition before losing 2-0 to Marseille.

Souness' record in the competition is somewhat less impressive, with the Scot guiding his previous club, Blackburn, to two dismal first-round defeats.

The Newcastle boss treated the UEFA Cup as something of a sideshow at Ewood Park, with the twin constraints of a poor league position and a small squad forcing him to field sub-standard teams on more than one occasion.

But with United's trophy drought approaching its 36th year, the UEFA Cup will be close to the top of the priority list this season.

"I've come to a place where the fans expect to have a run in Europe and we cannot treat this lightly," explained Souness.

"We have a bigger squad here than the one I had at Blackburn. The priority at Blackburn was to remain in the Premiership - clearly the priorities here are different.

"It's going to be a challenge but, the bigger the challenge that's presented in front of you, the more it should turn you on.

"I think we've got players here who will handle that."

Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy were left out of Souness' squad for the first-leg win over Sakhnin and an ankle problem means Bellamy could again be rested tonight, meaning Shearer will partner Patrick Kluivert against a remodelled Sakhnin backline.

Jermaine Jenas will partner Lee Bowyer in the absence of the suspended Nicky Butt, with Laurent Robert and James Milner likely to make up the midfield four.

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