PARIS, Feb 18: Bitter English north-eastern rivals Newcastle and Middlesbrough edged closer to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup on Thursday after Graeme Souness's Magpies clinched a 2-1 third round first leg win at Heerenveen while Boro drew 2-2 at GAK of Austria.

Newcastle had fallen behind to a Klaas Jan Huntelaar goal when the Dutchman confidently buried a left-foot drive past keeper Shay Given in the 24th minute. Veteran striker and club skipper Alan Shearer came to the rescue with a 68th minute equaliser to register his 14th goal of the season.

Veteran striker and club skipper Alan Shearer came to the rescue with a 68th minute equaliser to register his 14th goal of the season. Lee Bowyer who was dismissed in the 85th minute, just three minutes after scoring the winner.

Dutch duo Boudewijn Zenden and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored the goals to give Middlesbrough a 2-2 draw in Graz. Zenden opened the scoring after 51 minutes beating three defenders before slotting the ball home.

The lead lasted until the 64th minute when Croatian Mario Bazina levelled but Hasselbaink restored the advantage straight from the restart with a header from a Stewart Downing cross. GAK clawed their way back into the tie when Roland Kollmann scored from a free-kick.

Villarreal also have the upper hand in their tie with Dynamo Kiev after battling out a 0-0 draw in Ukraine while Fenerbahce, with former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker Nicolas Anelka in their line-up, slipped to a 1-0 home defeat to Real Zaragoza.

Former European champions Benfica went down 2-0 at CSKA Moscow. On Wednesday, Ajax beat French side Auxerre 1-0, with Brazilian international Maxwell on target, but their win was marred by a racist banner that greeted the visitors' Ivory Coast striker Bonaventure Kalou.

Kalou, who used to play for Ajax's bitter rivals Feyenoord, ran out onto the pitch to see a banner saying 'Kalou is invited to a banana tree'. Feyenoord came away with just a 2-1 defeat away at Sporting Lisbon, though the hosts played the last 25 minutes with 10 men after Portuguese midfielder Custodio was sent off.

Stuttgart drew 0-0 with two-time UEFA Cup champions Parma while Schalke 04 drew 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk. Defending UEFA Cup champions Valencia won 2-0 at home to Steaua Bucharest with goals from Marco di Vaio and Pablo Aimar.

FIRST LEG RESULTS