Sir Bobby celebrates 70th birthday with Newcastle win

Two goals from reserve striker Shola Ameobi helped Newcastle United to a much-needed 3-1 victory over crisis-hit Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Newcastle scored their first points in the second phase with perfect timing, keeping alive their chances of surviving Group A on manager Sir Bobby Robson's 70th birthday.

Last season's finalists Leverkusen, who face a battle against relegation in the Bundesliga and sacked coach Klaus Toppmoeller on Sunday, have no points from three games and are virtually eliminated.

Ameobi headed home from close range on five minutes from a cross by fellow striker Lomana Lua Lua and was on target again 11 minutes later, exploiting a blunder from Brazilian defender Cris before beating defender Thomas Kleine to double the advantage with a low drive from the edge of the box.

Leverkusen woke up from a sluggish start when Brazilian striker Franca collected a Jan Simak pass just outside the area to flick the ball over Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given with plenty of cool and put the home side back into the game in the 26th minute.

Newcastle, not suffering from the suspensions of first-choice strikers Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy, inflicted more punishment on their hosts with a fine Lua Lua volley from a Laurent Robert cross in the 32nd minute. They dropped their pace after the break but did enough to hold on to their lead over a hapless German outfit.