Newcastle Utd 1 Atromitos 0:NEWCASTLE UNITED'S first European home game for more than five years ended in a win illuminated by a fine goal from the excellent Haris Vuckic and tinged by a diving controversy which saw Tim Krul arguably fortunate not to be sent off and concede a penalty.

This is regarded as a make or break season for the talented young Slovenian Vuckic, whose career has been interrupted by injury. He did not take long to make the sort of impact Pardew desires when he came on for injured Ryan Taylor.

Collecting a throw in from Danny Simpson on the right, he deceived his marker before unleashing a superb 20-yard shot which, took the slightest of deflections off Walter Iglesias en route.

Earlier Charles Itandje had repelled Sylvain Marveaux’s 15-yard shot and looked relieved to see a curling 20-yard effort from James Perch drift narrowly wide.

At the other end, when Tim Krul spilled a shot, Chumbinho pounced on the loose ball, rounding Newcastle’s goalkeeper before collapsing to the turf as if tripped. The Swiss referee judged the Brazilian striker guilty of a blatant dive and booked him.

There was still time for Pardew to suffer a few minor anxieties, for Itandje to save brilliantly from Gabriel Obertan. At times in the second half it was tighter than many home fans would have liked but Newcastle progress.

NEWCASTLE: Krul, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Ryan Taylor (Vuckic, 11), Obertan, Bigirimana, Perch (Tavernier, 59), Marveaux (Amalfitano, 90), Gosling, Ba.

ATROMITOS: Itandje, Skondras, Fitanidis, Lazaridis, Giannoulis, Iglesias, Brito (Kuqi, 88), Dimoutsos Garcia, 85), Chumbinho (Beljic, 75), Epstein, Karamanos.

Referee: S Studer (Switzerland)

(Newcastle win 2-1 on aggregate)