Titus Bramble recovered from a nightmare start to emerge as Newcastle's unlikely UEFA Cup hero with a second-half winner in the 1-0 win over FK Ventspils in the Latvian capital.

Bramble could easily have been cast as the Magpies' villain after Igors Slesarcuks skated past him with just five minutes on the clock and forced an outstanding one-handed save from Shay Given.

Or when he was left rooted to the turf as Vladimirs Kolesnicenko rose between him and team-mate Celestine Babayaro to fire a 17th-minute header inches wide of the target.