Bellamy denies Barnsley

Barnsley 0 Newcastle United 1

The Newcastle manager Bobby Robson raised a few eyebrows when he signed Craig Bellamy from Coventry in the summer, but the gamble paid off when the 22-year-old Welsh international scored the goal that took Newcastle through to the fourth round of the Worthington Cup after they had struggled for 80 minutes to turn pressure into goals at Oakwell last night.

It was a rather more expensive summer signing, the £9.5m Frenchman Laurent Robert, who found him unmarked on the six-yard line to slot the ball beneath Barnsley goalkeeper Andy Marriott and relieve Newcastle's mounting frustrations 11 minutes from the end.

"I thought about leaving him out but he's on fire at the moment," Robson said of Bellamy. "He's difficult to mark because of his explosive pace. We had to work for it and match their running power but in the end our superior quality pulled us through."

Nigel Spackman, the Barnsley manager, said: "It was a good performance against an excellent side and we have to take that into our next league games and try to improve our league position."

Robson chose to rest Nikos Dabizas after his weekend exertions for Greece against England, but chose to blood the on-loan French defender Sylvain Distin in central defence.

It was to prove a wise decision after less than five minutes when Lee Jones released Bruce Dyer into the penalty area. The Barnsley striker's shot found Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper out of position and was heading to the far corner of the net when Distin appeared to hook it off the line.

But after that early scare the game quickly settled into its expected pattern, with the Premiership side dominating opponents languishing near the foot of the First Division.

In the face of relentless Newcastle pressure the last thing Marriott needed was a series of suicidal back-passes from his defenders. Three times he was forced to make one-on-one saves from Bellamy, Alan Shearer and Robert.

Harper turned substitute Kevin Gallen's 10-yard drive over the bar after Lumsdon had set him up and then dived to his right to save from the same attacker moments later.

But the second half quickly settled into the pattern of the first. Shearer forced a corner which Barnsley cleared at the fourth attempt and Bellamy mis-kicked horribly after Solano had found him unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box.

Barnsley: Marriott; Crooks, Barker, Morgan, Parkin, Lumsdon, Sand (Neil, 63), Donovan, Jones (Barnard, 67), Dyer, Fallon (Gallen, h-t). Substitutes not used: Ghent, Regan.

Newcastle United: Harper, Barton, O'Brien, Distin, Bernard, Solano, Speed, Lee, Robert, Bellamy, Shearer. Substitutes not used: Acuna, Given, Hughes, Lua-Lua, Ameobi.

Referee: C Foy (St Helens).