Show of spirit cheers Sir Bobby

Newcastle United FC coach Sir Bobby Robson was delighted with the way his side recovered from going a goal down to defeat RCD Mallorca 4-1 in their UEFA Cup fourth round first-leg encounter at St James' Park. "They showed great spirit and it was a great fightback. The players showed real resilience," he said.

Late flurry
After a dull opening period, the visitors went a goal up against the run of play through Fernando Correa - a player who impressed Sir Bobby. Yet Newcastle simply redoubled their efforts to score four times in a 17-minute spell. Craig Bellamy, Alan Shearer, Laurent Robert and Titus Bramble scored the goals.

'We raised the tempo'
What particularly pleased the veteran coach was the way his side coped with going a goal behind just when they looked most like scoring. "Mallorca struck when we were at our best," said Robson. "But I was impressed by the way we responded. We raised the tempo and didn't let them settle. We pressed and disrupted their game and our set-pieces were terrific."

Bellamy praise
Sir Bobby was happy with the way his central defenders had controlled the dangerous Samuel Eto'o, but reserved especial praise for Welsh international striker Bellamy. "I thought he took the equaliser well and he was very lively," he said. "He has shown a good recovery when you think that he has only just returned from injury."

'Kept going'
Bellamy himself never doubted that Newcastle would get back into the game. "We knew that they would open up at some stage," he said. "They could not keep it up against us for the whole game so we kept going. I had been looking towards this game after my injury so it was obviously nice to get the goal. To win 4-1 was perhaps not a fair reflection on the game as a whole, but we looked dangerous."

Not over yet
Despite the three-goal advantage, Robson refused to see the second leg, to be played on March 25, as a formality. "We will still have to play at our full potential if we are to progress," said Sir Bobby, aware that Mallorca's away goal could come into play. "The tie is not quite over yet"

Injury worry
The one blight on Newcastle's evening was the late injury to Kieron Dyer. The English international pulled up with a hamstring problem after a long covering sprint near the end of the game. "It is a slight recurrence of an earlier problem," said Sir Bobby.