ROUNDUP: Victories For Newcastle, Sevilla And Lens In UEFA Cup

Newcastle, Sevilla and Lens are well on course for a place in the next round of the UEFA Cup after convincingly winning their first leg games in the round of 32 on Thursday.

Newcastle scored three times in the second half against Belgian team Zulte-Waregem in Gent to set up a 3-1 victory that all but guarantees the Premiership club a place in the next round.

The visitors took the lead three minutes after the restart when Belgian defender Frederic Dindeleux pushed a Kieron Dyer cross past his own goalkeeper.

Nigerian international Obafemi Martins scored Newcastle's second from the penalty spot after Damien Duff had been brought down in the area in the 59th minute.

The home side pulled one back ten minutes later with a header from Karel D'Haene after a freekick, but Antoine Sibierski gave Newcastle the two-goal lead in the 76th minute with a fine individual goal.

Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder was satisfied with the result, but faulted his side for giving away a goal. "I'm very pleased to come away from anywhere in Europe with a win, but I was disappointed we conceded.

"It was a relatively comfortable win, but we were sloppy at times and that disappointed me."

Another club scoring three goals in the second half was French team Lens, who beat Panathinaikos 3-1, with Tunisian international Issam Jemaa scoring twice for the home side. In between, Dimitrios Salpigidis scored for the Greek side.

Aruna Dindane scored from the spot in injury time to give Lens a two-goal lead.

Nine minutes from the end Panathinaikos coach Victor Munoz brought on 16-year-old Sotirios Ninis for his first taste of European football.

Former Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri had a bad start to his coaching career with Parma - where he started on Wednesday - with a 1-0 defeat in Portugal against Braga.

Brazilian striker Santos da Silva scored the only goal of the match nine minutes from the end.

In the earlier matches, the two Spanish La Liga clubs had a good night as they avoided defeat in their away legs.

Sevilla won 2-0 at Steaua Bucharest, while Celta Viga drew 1-1 with Spartak Moscow to stay on course for a place in the next round.

In Bucharest, Christian Poulsen scored four minutes from the end of the first half to give his side a first-half lead. Former Tottenham player Freddie Kanoute converted a penalty in the 76th minute to give his side a convincing 2-0 victory.

In freezing temperatures in Moscow Spartak took the game to the visitors, but failed to find the opening goal. Instead, it was Celta who took the lead four minutes from the break with a well-taken move that Antonio Nunez finished from close range.

Spartak coach Vladmir Fedotov brought on substitutes Nikita Bazhenov and Denis Boyarintsev at the start of the second half in an attempt to beef up his attack and this move nearly paid dividends early on as both came close to equalizing.

In the 64th minute the home sides' fans finally had something to cheer about as 28-year-old Ukrainian Maxym Kalynychenko's freekick from the edge of the penalty area hit the back of the net.

The return legs will be played on Thursday February 22.

By Peter Auf Der Heyde, Dpa
© 2007 DPA