Newcastle were locked in a tense Intertoto struggle with French side Troyes last night, as both sides fought it out for that all important UEFA Cup place.

Bobby Robson named an unchanged side from the one that he picked which beat TSV 1860 Munich in the semi-finals of the tournament last week. But the Geordies soon found themselves on the back foot for long spells in the Stade de L'Aube, as Troyes dominated the opening period.

The French side were quick out of the starting blocks and it only took two minutes before Shay Given was called into action. Luciano Zavagno's left sided cross was headed back across goal by Samuel Boutal and landed at the feet of his strike partner Nicolas Gousse, but his turn and shot were not up to standard as Given easily collected the poor attempt at goal.

The troubles continued for Newcastle as Troyes continued to push forward usually led by Zavagno. More chances followed until the Magpies hit back on 18 minutes through Shola Ameobi who had a good shot blocked by the Troyes 'keeper Tony Heurtebis. Given was again forced into action just before half time when Gousse broke free from a pass through from Ghazi. The Irish international stood up to the challenge however as he rushed off of his line to deny the forward the opening goal of the game.

Troyes obviously felt that to win the tie they needed to use the home advantage so when they ran out at half-time with a more attacking 3-3-4 formation, the Toon Army knew that they where in for a colourful 45 minutes.

The rain fell heavily throughout the half but Newcastle managed to hold out and in fact had the best chance of the second period despite the onslaught of the Frenchmen. A good pass through from Solano was collected by Hughes who was caught by a important interception from the midfielder Medhi Leroy.

Halfway through the second half and Troyes boss Alain Perrin decided that a change of attack was needed as he brought on Jerome Rothen, Sladjan Djukic and Rafic Saisi to replace Leroy, Gousse and Boutal. The change did not have any real effect however, and the only decent chance came when Saisi poked a shot wide from close range.

At the end of the day Newcastle will be pleased with the result as they can now face the French side in the second leg with a good home advantage.

Teams: Newcastle: Given, Barton, Elliott, Dabizas, Solano, Quinn, Hughes, Lee, Bellamy (LuaLua 88), Ameobi (Bassedas 90), Speed. Unused subs: Harper, S. Caldwell, Bernhard, Acuna, Griffin.

Troyes: Heurtebis, Amzine, Berthe, Boutal (Saisi 75), Bradja, Celestini, Ghazi, Gousse (Djukic 63), Leroy (Rothen 63), O. Thomas, Zavagno. Unused subs: Sekli, Hamed, Niang.

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