The former Leeds midfielder, who scored twice against Partizan Belgrade at the Abe Lenstra Stadium in the 1999 UEFA Cup, backheeled an 82nd-minute winner past goalkeeper Brian Vandenbussche.

He later saw red for a second bookable offence as the Magpies scrapped their way to victory.

Bowyer’s strike came 13 minutes after Alan Shearer had blasted home his 14th goal of the season to drag his side back into a game which was rapidly being wrenched from their grasp.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar had fired Heerenveen ahead after a horrendous 24th-minute error by Titus Bramble. The defender was rescued by Irish goalkeeper Shay Given with time running out.

But Graeme Souness can look forward to next week’s return leg knowing a last 16 clash with either Olympiacos or Sochaux should be within sight despite an unpromising start to the tie.

Newcastle’s failing in recent weeks has exercised Souness’ mind ever since his arrival at St James’ Park.

However, the opening 45 minutes served up a graphic illustration of just why there is so much doom and gloom on Tyneside this season.

It started reasonably well with Faye bossing the midfield battle and full-backs Babayaro and Stephen Carr exploiting the space on the wings.

However, with the attacking trio of Shearer, Shola Ameobi and Dutchman Patrick Kluivert failing to trouble Vandenbussche once, a record matched by the rest of their team-mates, the potential was always there for a slip, and once again, it fell, quite literally at the feet of Bramble.

The central defender dallied for an eternity over a clearance and was eventually robbed by the experienced Arnold Bruggink, who pulled the ball back for Huntelaar to blast a shot past Shay Given off the underside of the crossbar.

It might have been worse within two minutes had Huntelaar not directed a header straight at Given after the dangerous Ugur Yildirim crossed from the right.

Bramble partially atoned for his first-half nightmare four minutes into the second half when he slid in to dispossess Huntelaar as he tried to collect Daniel Hestad’s return pass. Although the loose ball ran to Bruggink and he curled a shot just over.

Bowyer fired just wide on 54 minutes, but the fans were starting to turn, singing for Laurent Robert and against the Magpies’ Board in quick succession.

Ameobi could have levelled on the hour after Shearer headed a Faye free-kick back across goal, but under pressure from Michel Breuer, he could not hit the target.

Robert arrived as a replacement for the young striker two minutes later, but his first contribution was to deliver a free-kick from a promising position straight into Vandenbussche’s arms.

Shearer got his first sniff of goal on 67 minutes when he ran on to Kluivert’s through ball and set himself to shoot, although Said Bakkati’s block and then an offside flag curtailed his excitement.

But the same combination did the trick two minutes later when, after Kluivert had laid off Robert’s pass into his path, the 34-year-old blasted his 14th goal of the season and his 187th for the club past Vandenbussche to level.

The songs from the terraces immediately changed to “You’re still England’s number one”, and if all was not well with the world, it was at least a little more pleasant.

But there was better to come for the visitors with eight minutes remaining when Robert and Kluivert combined to set up Carr to cross, and when he delivered the ball with pace, Bowyer cheekily backheeled it past Vandenbussche to complete an unlikely comeback.

Bramble almost threw the lead away two minutes later when he gifted the ball to Mika Vayrynen, but Shay Given rescued him with an excellent save.

There was still time for Bowyer to get himself sent off for a second bookable offence after handling the ball and for Given to pouch a well-struck Yildirim free-kick, but the visitors held firm to boost their chances of reaching the last 16.

Results:

International Match:

Costa Rica 1 Ecuador 2

UEFA Cup Round of 32, First Leg

Alemania Aachen 0 AZ 0

Basle 0 Lille 0

CSKA Moscow 2 Benfica 0

Dynamo Kiev 0 Villarreal 0

Fenerbahce 0 Real Zaragoza 1

Liebherr GAK 2

Olympiakos 1 Sochaux 0