Stewart dares and wins with Ipswich

What should never be doubted, however, are his immense reserves of selfbelief and courage. For all his protestations to the contrary, last week?s miss ? when he dragged a penalty wide of the post ? must have played on his mind in the run-up to this game.

Yet, he had the ball in his hands within seconds of Finidi George being fouled in the 53rd minute and within a few seconds more he had it in the back of the net courtesy of his left foot.

It was perhaps a moment when a talented, hard-working striker truly came of age. England coach Sven Goran Eriksson continues to look at him, and then overlook him. But perhaps he will think again before long.

?Marcus is a natural goalscorer,? said his manager George Burley. ?If you look at his career he has scored 20 goals a season virtually every year. I couldn?t believe it when he missed his penalty last week but I told him straight away to take the next one if he wanted to.

?His reaction tonight showed tremendous character.?

Having taken the lead 90 seconds after half-time, courtesy of a turn and shot from George after Jamie Clapham had headed down a corner in the penalty box, Stewart?s penalty came at just the right time.

It gave Burley?s team a 2-0 lead on the night and required Torpedo to score three times in 35 minutes.

They managed it once when Dmitry Vyazmikin capitalised on an error from Mark Venus, but goalkeeper Matteo Sereni denied the same player and Alexander Shirko as time wore on and ensured that Ipswich moved safely into round two of the competition for the first time since the Ipswich team in which Burley played won it in 1981.

It was a victory that was as deserved as it was satisfying. Ipswich had played fitfully during a disappointing first leg but as only 5,000 supporters looked down from the echoing recesses of the magnificent Luzhniki Stadium, they made amends courtesy of 90 minutes of committed football.

The first half brought only halfchances for Ipswich ? a header apiece from Stewart and the terrific Hermann Hreidarsson ? and turned on a miss from Vyazmikin that was as hilarious as it was remarkable. With the floundering Sereni already on the floor, the Torpedo striker had only to prod the ball five yards forward when receiving a square pass from Shirko in the 22nd minute. Instead, he cannoned it off the crossbar with all the finesse of an anxious elephant and his chance to turn the tie Torpedo?s way was gone.

Afterwards, Burley described his team?s achievement as ? phenomenal?. It is not quite that and certainly they will have to improve ? most notably in their defending ? if they are to make substantial progress through the competition.

The Scot is, however, quite right to be proud of the character showed by his players to recover from the disappointments of last week and will take great encouragement from the fact that they were able to come to eastern Europe and win.

Burley said he was pleased at the team?s response to their 4-0 defeat at Old Trafford last Saturday. ?There were some very good signs tonight .. . hopefully this will give us the lift-off we need.?

Torpedo coach Vitaly Shevchenko spoke afterwards of how football was a ?game for strong minds?.

?The main lesson for us is one of self-confidence,? he added. ?We only started to play at 2-0 when it was already too late. Those who think like losers will end up losers.?

To individuals like Marcus Stewart, the prospect of losing would never appear to be an issue.