Liverpool edged a closely-contested encounter at Tynecastle thanks to an own goal by Hearts’ Andy Webster.

Both sides spurned first-half chances, with Fabio Borini the main culprit.

Hearts gave a good account of themselves but were made to pay for their own profligacy in front of goal when Webster put past his own keeper.

Martin Kelly fired in a dangerous cross and the Hearts defender looked on in horror as the ball rebounded off him and into the net.

On balance, it was harsh on Hearts, who had given as good as they got against their more-fancied opponents, who, despite not being at full strength, fielded a multi-million pound team.

Hearts were keen to avoid a repeat of the scenario at this stage of last season’s competition, when they found themselves two goals down inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Though Jamie MacDonald had to make an early save down to his left from a Charlie Adam drive, it was Pepe Reina who was busier in the opening stages.

The Spaniard was forced off his line to clear from the onrushing John Sutton before a full-stretch save to keep an Arvydas Novikovas effort from finding the top corner from 25 yards.

Sutton and David Templeton both had efforts just off target as Hearts’ tactics of high-tempo, pressing football ruffled the English side’s feathers.

The pace of Raheem Sterling down the Liverpool left looked a potent weapon and Darren Barr almost knocked the ball past his own keeper as he slid in to prevent the winger getting a shot on goal.

And, as Liverpool began to make their presence felt, Sterling stung the palms of MacDonald with a fierce effort as he cut inside onto his right foot.

The visitors should really have taken the lead on 33 minutes. A lightning quick counter-attack was led by Jordan Henderson down the right.

His cross for Borini was inch-perfect, but with the goal gaping, the Italian slid the ball wide.

Hearts’ threat had not evaporated, though, and Templeton fired a yard over the bar before the home fans and players made vociferous handball claims against Jamie Carragher, which were ignored by referee Florian Meyer.

Borini missed another glorious opportunity to give his side the lead after brilliant set-up play by Sterling, but with only the exposed keeper to beat, he struck the post.

The second half began at a slower pace than had been evident for most of the first period, but a vicious effort from a tight angle by Callum Paterson almost had the home crowd in delirium.

Adam and Novikovas swapped long-range efforts, neither of which troubled the respective keepers.

But with just 13 minutes remaining, the visitors made the breakthrough.

Kelly powered down the right, and though his cross was missed by Borini, the luckless Webster could not avoid the ball rebounding off him and into the back of the net.

Sterling was still looking lively in the closing stages, but on the two occasions he found room to shoot, his efforts failed to test MacDonald.

Paterson tried in vain to grab an equaliser, but Reina was equal to a powerful shot on the turn and Brendan Rodgers’ side emerged with a first-leg lead to take back to Anfield.

(BBC Football) 

 

An under-strength Newcastle side claimed a valuable 1-1 draw away to Atromitos in the first leg of their Europa League play-off round tie.

Denis Epstein put the hosts ahead before Ryan Taylor equalised with a trademark free-kick before half-time.

Boss Alan Pardew made nine changes from the side that beat Tottenham 2-1 on Saturday, with a league match against Chelsea less than 48 hours away.

The winners of the tie will go into the competition’s group stage draw.

Newcastle’s last European game

Result: AZ Akmaar 2-0 Newcastle (agg 4-4)

Date: 15 March, 2007

Newcastle blew a 4-2 lead from the first leg to drop out in the last-16 stage of the Uefa Cup. A team featuring Scott Parker, Kieron Dyer and Obafemi Martins could not keep out their rampant Dutch opponents.

Pardew delved into his second-string and gave first competitive starts to summer signings Vurnon Anita and Gael Bigirimana in the absence of established players such as Fabricio Coloccini, Cheick Tiote and Demba Ba who were all left at home, and Hatem Ben Arfa who missed out through suspension.

As Yohan Cabaye, Steven Taylor and Jonas Gutierrez sweltered on the bench in a baking Athens, Atromitos took advantage of full-back James Tavernier’s inexperience to open the scoring on 24 minutes as Epstein shot past onrushing goalkeeper Steve Harper.

Newcastle refused to panic and went into the interval on level terms after Taylor curled a free-kick into the bottom corner of former Liverpool goalkeeper Charles Itandje’s net with the last kick of the half.

As the heat took its toll, the second period was played at walking pace. With just under 15 minutes left, Pardew brought on 17-year-old striker Adam Campbell to break Andy Carroll’s record as the club’s youngest ever European debutant.

Atromitos – who were playing their first competitive game of their season after finishing fourth in the Greek Super League last term – wasted the best chance of the half shortly after as Konstantinos Giannoulis shot horribly wide when through on goal after he burst past Tavernier on the left.

The result ensured Newcastle travelled back to the north east with an away goal as they ventured into European competition for the first time in five years.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew:

“I should think in the Premier League, there are not too many players at dead balls who have the accuracy of Ryan Taylor.

“He is desperate to play in the first team, but he has got some good performances from Saturday’s game against Tottenham in front of him, so he has got to be patient.”

He added: “Our pre-season prep, you could argue, served us well [against Atromitos] because they let us have possession for long periods of the game, and we moved the ball and made them work really hard and took the sting out of the game a little bit.

“In the second half, I was a little bit disappointed we didn’t get the win – I thought there were good opportunities – but overall, I was very, very pleased with the performance.”

(BBC Football)