IF it were just 90 minutes’ football, Newcastle United could be reasonably pleased with their work.

With only a little more luck and perhaps better officiating, Papiss Cisse could have scored a hat-trick which would have restored the feel-good factor which dropped just a fraction at White Hart Lane last week.

However, by leaving the tie so delicately in the balance, they have given manager Alan Pardew a major decision to take next week.

On last night’s showing they will need a strong team to beat a talented Metalist Kharkiv side full of South American flair on Ukrainian soil.

However, the stronger Pardew’s selection, the more he threatens Newcastle’s chances of picking up much-needed Premier League points at home to Southampton on their return.

Five years out of Europe, the Magpies have played precious little two-legged football and this time next week they could well be regretting their failure to take a lead to North East Ukraine.

Home advantage may not be what it once was in European football, but there was more than just geography on Newcastle’s side last night.

This was a perfect opportunity, morale still high after Mike Ashley’s cross-Channel shopping spree, almost injury-free, no weekend game to divert their attention or energy, at home to opponents who have not played a competitive game since the Europa League went into hibernation.

Most if not all those advantages will have gone when they arrive in freezing Kharkiv for Thursday’s return.

Pardew’s team-sheet suggested he was determined to cash in on those advantages. Given their winter inactivity, a friendly at Whitley Bay apart, it was perhaps no surprise Metalist took time to go through the gears – but Newcastle matched their sluggishness out of the blocks.

However, once the game got going, it became an entertaining, free-flowing affair.

While Kharkiv looked incisive Newcastle, and their wingers in particular, frustrated. There were more than a few cheers when Gabriel Obertan’s night was cut short half-an-hour early.

Jonas Gutierrez had been instrumental in his 17th-minute chance, his quick throw-in allowing the Magpies to break quickly, and for Obertan – so effective in this season’s competition – to belatedly get his legs pumping. His shot, though, was dragged disappointingly wide.