How lucky can you get? When it seemed Newcastle United were preparing themselves for uncomfortable questions about their embarrassing Champions League performance in Kiev last night, two unimaginable goals from John Beresford gave them a draw their efforts scarcely warranted. Kiev, two up after only 28 minutes, could - and should - have won by a mile.
Just as against Barcelona, Newcastle were missing the defensive solidity of Alessandro Pistone. The Italian did not recover in time from the ankle injury he picked up on Saturday, although the captain Robert Lee was all right after straining his thigh.
That meant only one change from the Barcelona game and it was a tactical one, Darren Peacock returning in central defence at the expense of Jon Dahl Thomasson up front. Understandably Kenny Dalglish felt his side needed reinforcing at the back against a Kiev team featuring nine of the Ukraine national squad which has a good chance of reaching the World Cup finals.
Unfortunately for Dalglish it took Kiev only four minutes to prove him right. They had already shown their verve with a firstminute surge by Vitaly Kosovsky down the left. Three minutes later he turned up on the opposite flank and delivered a telling ball to release Valentin Belkevitch, who sent in a beautiful curling cross. Sergi Rebrov - who scored in Eindhoven - nipped into John Beresford's slipstream and stabbed the ball past Shay Given.
This stunning early blow for Newcastle was followed 20 minutes later by two more: the loss of Faustino Asprilla and a second goal.
Asprilla had been enjoying some lively moments, being booked and almost scoring one of the goals of the decade when, after beating three men with mesmerising speed and agility, he could only manage to shoot straight at the keeper. Newcastle were still trying to replace him - after he went over on his ankle as he took a free-kick - when Kiev went two goals up.
Belkevitch was again the creator although it took a poor mistake by Peacock to give him an opening. Belkevitch exposed the Newcastle left-back with an incisive pass to Andrei Shevchenko.
This was the first occasion we had to see the 21-year-old justify his huge reputation and Shevchenko did just that, sliding the ball diagonally into Given's bottom right-hand corner. It was a smooth finish.
As if things were not bad enough for Newcastle, Kiev nearly went three up a minute later. Belkevitch, having set up two goals, perhaps thought it was his turn, chipping toward an empty net after Given had been forced out of his area to head clear the previous attack. Peacock, making up for his earlier error, got back to nod the ball away.
In such circumstances giving half-time team talks must be like trying to raise Lazarus, but at least Dalglish was able to make a physical alteration, bringing on Temur Ketsbaia for Lee, a change that suggested Lee had not been fully fit at the start.
Momentarily, too, Ketsbaia brought a little forward momentum, but it was not long before Newcastle were rocking once more, transfixed by the compelling Kiev rhythm. Twice before the hour Given made breathtaking stops to keep the deficit respectable.
Even so it was still hard to imagine where a Newcastle goal would come from when suddenly Beresford - we should have known - popped up in the Kiev box to volley a Steve Watson throw-in past Alexander Shovkovski.
The unthinkable shortly became the unbelievable when another Beresford volley four minutes from the end took a massive deflection to leave Shovkovski stranded once again.
Dinamo Kiev: Shovkovsky, Luzhny, Golovko, Vashchuk, Dmytrulin, Kossovsky, Shevchenko, Rebrov, Gusin, Khatskevitch, Belkevitch. Subs: Kernozenko, Bezhenar, Samoilov, Mikhailenko, Shmatovalenko, Radchenko, Volosianko.
Newcastle: Given, Barton, Beresford, Batty, Peacock, Lee, Barnes, Asprilla, Gillespie, Watson, Albert. Subs: Hislop, Howey, Rush, Ketsbaia, Tomasson, Hamilton, Hughes.
Referee: P Mikkelsen (Denmark).
