Cup win brings relief for boss.

Byline: By Luke Edwards 

Souness happy with first Intertoto clash

Graeme Souness last night expressed his satisfaction as Newcastle United overcame tired legs and drained limbs to launch their season with a relatively comfortable Intertoto Cup win over ZTS Dubnica.

Goals from Michael Chopra, his first for the club, a disputed own goal from Dubnica defender Robert Novak ( which United skipper Alan Shearer is claiming ( and a cute lob from James Milner, have all but guaranteed Newcastle a place in the semi-finals of the Intertoto Cup and an anticipated showdown with Spanish side Deportivo La Coru-a.

But Souness, who has made no secret of the fact that it is the Premiership, and not European competition, where his priorities lie this season, appeared to be merely relieved at avoiding an upset against limited, but clearly fitter opposition. "We're very happy with the result because of the circumstances in which we have had to come here," said United's manager, who refused to give any more details regarding the club's chase of French international striker Nicolas Anelka.

"We have done very well with the players that were available. We were missing some very big players today and we had to use what we had. We have only been back training for two weeks and that is not enough to be playing competitive games.

"But we have won the game fairly comfortably, even though we looked like a very tired side out there for the last half an hour. It's been a good outing for us because we have won the game, avoided any injuries and it has done wonders for our fitness." Souness' hand was further weakened on Saturday night when Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer were withdrawn from the side as a precautionary measure.

Dyer, who has been plagued by hamstring injuries in the last two years, felt a little tight in that area, while Bowyer was also left out because of a small thigh problem, fuelling speculation that the midfielder could be on his way back to his first club, Charlton Athletic. Souness explained: "We didn't want to take a risk with either of them at this stage of the season. It was just a precautionary thing, Kieron hasn't pulled anything, his hamstring just felt a little tight and Lee felt a small twinge at the top of his thigh.

"It's not serious and we hope to have them back next weekend. We have given the lads who were on international duty this summer a rest as well so we'll have some big players to come into the side if we want them to next weekend."

United's victory over such a small club from Slovakia will not go down as one of the greatest of their European nights, but it will always be special to Chopra.

Souness said: "It will be a very memorable night for Michael. It was his first goal for the club and that is always a special moment, especially when it is your home town club." There may also have been a first of the season for captain Alan Shearer, although it appears likely that the veteran forward will not claim it as he pursues Jackie Milburn's club record.

Souness added: "I'm not sure who scored the second goal and I don't know whether Alan has claimed it or not.

"From where I was sitting it looked as though the linesman had already raised his flag to say the ball had crossed the line when Alan touched it. But if Alan wants to claim it I'm not going to take it away from him, it's up to him." Deportivo made hard work of their third-round, first-leg encounter against Slaven Koprivnica, a 70th-minute strike from Ruben Castro Martin giving them only a 1-0 lead to take to Croatia next weekend, where Joaquin Caparros' side nevertheless should still be favourites to progress to the semi-finals.

Chelsea scored their second win in as many pre-season fixtures last night with a 1-0 win over Benfica in Lisbon.

Jose Mourinho's team followed up Wednesday's 5-1 defeat of League Two Wycombe with a victory over the team he managed for nine games in 2000. An own goal from Ricardo Rocha settled this clash of the champions of England and Portugal at the Stadium of Light.

Rocha was under pressure from Carlton Cole when he diverted Arjen Robben's cross into his own net two minutes before half-time.

Dutch winger Robben was again lively for the Blues, although Petr Cech was busy before the break in the Chelsea goal.

Cech was replaced by Carlo Cudicini for the second half ( and he made a good save 15 minutes from time from Beto.