With the tie in the balance after the 0 – 0 first leg in Russia all set off from Monkseaton metro, and soon managed to virtually clear a metro carriage and got it to themselves.
Meeting the rest of the party at St James, the tickets were distributed and we headed to the East Stand.
A tense first half saw Anzi have the best of the possession but some strong defending by local hero Steven Taylor denied the crucial away goal – an inspiration for our defenders !
The second half saw a much improved effort from Newcastle with Sylvain Marveaux inspired by playing towards the Tynemouth hoards ! But even with the opposition reduced to ten men, it looked as if we were heading to extra time, and a bedtime not much before midnight – on a school night too!
All held their breath when Anzi got a free kick just outside the box but the shot came back off the bar !
Three minutes added time was almost up when Marveaux broke down the right and fired in a perfect cross for Papiss Dembe Cisse to head home 1-0 ! Game over !
Remember the night kids, as you can check with your Dads Newcastle don’t qualify for the European quarter finals very often – Bring on Benfica !

Thanks to Neil Winskill at the NUFC foundation for his help with the arrangements