Robson urges caution

Report: Basle 2-3 Newcastle

Sir Bobby Robson has warned his Newcastle players that their Uefa Cup second-round tie is far from over despite taking a 3-2 lead at Basle.

The Magpies trailed twice during the match but goals from Laurent Robert and Titus Bramble kept Newcastle in the match before Shola Ameobi scored the winner.

However, Newcastle squandered a 1-0 first leg away win in their Champions League qualifier against Partizan Belgrade, and Robson is warning against complacency.

"I always respect our opponents and you always have a chance in football," said Robson.

"We'd like to believe they have no chance, but they have to believe they have a chance.

Three goals away from home in Europe is a good reward Sir Bobby Robson

"You never know in football, you just never know. You have to be optimistic in life."

But Robson was delighted to be leaving Switzerland with a first-leg lead.

"We won a difficult match," said Robson. "Three goals away from home in Europe is a good reward.

"If we had not shown our fighting qualities, we would have lost this game.

"We've done well to come back twice. They gave us problems and tried everything. It was a long night."

Basle manager Christian Gross was critical of his team.

"We defended badly, especially for the first and third goals," he said.

"They were too quick and we haven't been perfect.

"We started in a good way, but to beat this excellent side from Newcastle, everybody needed to perform in a better way, especially our full-backs, who didn't perform well.

"We had our chances in the second half to re-open the game, but we lacked a freshness.

"But I'm looking forward to three weeks' time.

"I have time to prepare for this game and it will be particularly difficult, but we're coming to Newcastle in the best spirit."