Newcastle United 1, Zulte Waregem 0. (Newcastle win 4 - 1 on aggregate).

NEWCASTLE last night booked their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup following a 1-0 victory over Zulte-Waregem courtesy of a sublime Obafemi Martins finish.

Martins' strike ensured the Magpies now have a date with Fenerbahce's conquerors AZ Alkmaar in the next round of the competition, the first leg of which is at St James' Park on March 8.

The 22-year-old striker was a little subdued prior to the goal and only had one opportunity, which he spurned, before he netted. But the Nigeria international revealed just why manager Glenn Roeder splashed out £10m when he latched on to Damien Duff's defence-splitting pass to clip the ball over goalkeeper Sammy Bossut from an acute angle to net his 14th goal.

The game should have been won more comfortably as United's Belgian opposition were little better than a Football League One club.

But the visitors succeeded in frustrating the home side all evening. One wag cheekily suggested after the game that Tottenham, who received a bye, had received a sterner test. But you can only beat what is put in front of you.

The match saw the return of United misfit Albert Luque, in place of hamstring victim Antione Sibierski, and the Spaniard gave what everyone has come to expect of him.

The match should have provided the former Deportivo La Coruna man with the perfect opportunity to show home supporters, and his employers, he wasn't the waste of £9.5m everyone believes him to be. He failed miserably.

It was his first start since an ineffectual performance in the club's UEFA Cup group stage 0-0 draw with Eintract Frankfurt last November. His outing was so lame in Germany that had he been a horse he probably would have been put down.

The want-away former Spanish international did himself no favours again as he showed no more go than a red traffic light.

United endured a frustrating evening all told, with the visitors quite content to sit back and pull everyone behind the ball in a bid to stifle the home side. It was an unusual tactic employed by Francky Dury's side considering they had to make up a two- goal deficit or face going out of the competition. One can only think it was a damage limitation exercise.

Despite Waregem's negative tactics, Newcastle did manage to carve out a few openings in a lively first half buoyed by a two sets of noisy supporters, although they were little more than half chances.

Steven Taylor had a header cleared off the line by Stijn Meert in the fourth minute, before James Milner swapped passes with Kieron Dyer to fire over from 18 yards. Dyer then had an effort saved from 20 yards after 22 minutes and Luque missed the best opportunity of the half a minute later when he headed high.

Roeder attempted to spice things up in the last ten minutes of the half by pushing Damien Duff up front to take his place in a three-pronged attack, but it failed to bear fruit.

United opened the second period with a bit more purpose and a quick corner between the lively Milner and Duff found an unmarked Martins eight yards out. Unfortunately he got his sums wrong and headed weakly wide.

The Belgian visitors showed a bit more adventure after the break and gave the home side a scare in the 53rd minute when Wouter Van Den Driessche cut inside Paul Huntington and stung Steve Harper's hands.

But just before the hour mark Waregem should have been 1-0 up when an unmarked Bart Buysse was picked out in front of goal, only for him to head hopelessly wide.

Newcastle continued to pepper the visitors' goal and eventually made the breakthrough in the 67th minute when Martins showed all the composure in the world to lift the ball delicately over the goalkeeper to score.

United found more openings after the goal but weren't clinical enough in their execution and had to survive a late scare when substitute Tim Matthys avoided the offside trap to bear down on goal. Fortunately Titus Bramble made an astonishing tackle to prevent a certain goal.