Antoine Sibierski struck on his debut as Newcastle edged towards the Uefa Cup group stage with a 1-0 win over Levadia Tallinn.
The Frenchman powered home a 10th-minute header from Damien Duff's free-kick to give the Magpies an advantage they should have built upon against limited opposition.
However, the visitors' inability to convert pressure into goals, coupled with a loss of shape following a reshuffle sparked by Titus Bramble's premature departure through injury, left Levadia Tallinn in with a fighting chance at St James's Park in a fortnight's time.
Duff, who started the game on the right wing, played more than half of it at left-back after the introduction of James Milner, while £10million Obafemi Martins came no closer to claiming his first goal for the club.
Sibierski, while understandably rusty, did manage to score in the absence of Shola Ameobi, and his goal was enough to secure a first win in three games in front of a crowd of 7,917.
Levadia, who were unbeaten in 30 games before a 4-2 defeat by JK Maag Tartu last time out, threatened sporadically and went close through Marek Lemsalu and Konstantin Vassiljev, but perhaps should have been dealt with more ruthlessly.
The 8,300-capacity Le Coq Arena, Estonia's national stadium and the home of city rivals FC Flora, was selected as the venue for the game with their own Kadriorg Stadium holding just 5,000.
The 200 or so travelling fans were left in little doubt as to the commitment of boss Glenn Roeder to the competition when he named his strongest available team - with Siberiski's presence in place of Ameobi the only change from the side which started against Fulham.
