Alan Pardew said:

"We took a bit of a risk with our selection, but we did enough.

"It just goes to show you the pressure of competition as it looks like Ryan Taylor has suffered a bad knock today. So I'll have to speak to the chairman tonight and we might have to think about bringing a player in on the back of that injury. Unfortunately when you get these games these type of things happen to you. I feel sorry for Ryan because he's a terrific player and I really hope its not as bad as we fear.

"I haven't seen it if I am honest (the first half penalty appeal by Atromitos). I thought overall the game should have been over before we even got to half time, we had some fantastic chances in those first 40 minutes where we played really really well.

"But like anything in Europe it just goes to show you that if the referee had given a penalty and sent Tim off suddenly we've got a different game. Its a knife-edger in any game, whether its an FA Cup game or a League Cup game, they are very close affairs but I thought we just did enough to win.

"Haris (Vuckic) has got great technical ability and I'm pleased he got his goal because he's one of the favourites in the dressing room.

"For us, Andy Carroll was a political move that perhaps wasn't going to fall our way.

"You have to pay a lot of respect to Mike (Ashley), we've had a couple of phone calls during the window and we could have cashed in on a couple of our players but he didn't and I thank him for that and our fans should thank him too."

Their goalkeeper may have gone to the same barber as Mister T but it certainly wasn't an A Team that threatened Newcastle's progression to the group stages at St.James' Park on Thursday night.

Having had Ryan Taylor to thank for sparing their blushes in the energy-sapping heat of Athens, United continued to make heavy weather of their task in the more tolerable Tyneside temperatures and were ultimately grateful to a Swiss referee who twice raised doubts over his neutrality. 
   
Stephan Suder reacted to a spot kick appeal from the visitors in each half by booking their players for simulation on both occasions - the first of which seemed a remarkably lenient decision when reviewing with the benefit of TV playbacks.

That came at the end of a first half in which United had lost the services of their first leg scorer but found the net thanks to Haris Vuckic. The Slovenian had appeared as an early replacement for Ryan Taylor, who caught his studs in the turf and sustained knee ligament damage that will sideline him for some months - the obvious pain he was in led to little doubts as to the severity of the injury. 

Failing to build on that advantage though, Alan Pardew's side were almost made to pay two minutes before the interval. First leg goalscorer Denis Epstein was allowed to shoot on goal from distance and when Tim Krul failed to hold it, Brazilian midfielder Chumbinho reacted first and took the ball around the 'keeper before tumbling under some hand to boot contact. 

Studer ran towards the incident and yellow carded Chumbinho to the relief of the home fans and Krul who looked to be fearing the worst - a penalty and a red card.

With a second enforced change coming after the break when James Perch departed with a neck problem, United proved unable to conjure up a second goal as the second half wore on. Itandje atoned for his earlier hesitancy by denying Sylvain Marveaux, Gabriel Obertan and Ba, while the quality of our crossing and set pieces left much to be desired.  

Chances were fewer in the second period but it was one that fell to Dimoutsos that should have at least taken the tie to extra-time when the ball spun off Marveaux invitingly only for the visiting player to hit his shot wide of Krul's upright.

Studer then disciplined Nikola Bejic after his 85th minute run into the box saw him swerve past Coloccini and take a step before tumbling theatrically over - a more clear-cut booking than the one for Chumbinho coming after the referee consulted a linesman. 

There were a few more nervy moments for our defence before Alan Pardew was able to celebrate his first-ever managerial success in European competition, both Dan Gosling and Marveaux shooting wildly over when well-placed late on.

A case of job done then, despite having tempted fate by launching a new Euro kit on matchday - something which NUFC had also done back in 2003, when the silver/grey number went on sale just hours after Partizan Belgrade had ousted us from the Champions League. 

Some squad rotation saw a total of nineteen players get pitch time over the two legs, another three regular starters watch both legs from the bench, a quartet be unavailable due to injury and one more suspended. 

At times though, we looked like a team of strangers - something that can only be improved upon by playing together more often.  Whether that increased familiarity will result in an outbreak of quality in future cup fixtures though remains to be seen. Obertan will never enjoy more time and space than he did here but his delivery remained frustratingly random, while it's difficult to recall much that Marveaux achieved. 

In terms of support to Demba Ba we clearly have a long way to go, with tonight's performance from Gosling doing nothing to allay our suspicions that he's barely competent at this level and that's one gamble that is just destined not to pay out.

Putting aside those gripes though, cup football is all about the result and this display was forgotten within 24 hours, after the group stage draw landed us with a trio of beatable opponents within reasonable travelling distance. Plenty of time for practice there then.  

Biffa