Newcastle fought their way out of the relegation zone as they defeated Middlesbrough 3-1 in the Tyne-Tees derby.
Shearer's troops give North-East neighbours that sinking feeling
Newcastle United fought their way out of the Premier League relegation zone as they came from behind to defeat Middlesbrough 3-1 in a blistering Tyne-Tees derby at St James' Park.
With the agonising tension of a basement battle, and the possible financial loss of at least £50million that follows relegation, haunting a fixture between two goal-shy, occupants of the drop zone, the clash was not expected to be easy on the eye.
Pre-match speculation suggested that a loser would be condemned to the second tier of English football come the end of the season.
Such survival anxiety, however, was far from evident in a pulsating encounter as Habib Beye's own goal was cancelled out by Steven Taylor's header before substitutes Obafemi Martins and Peter Lovenkrands ensured Newcastle overtook Hull City in 17th place on goal difference.
In the build-up to the encounter, Newcastle boss Alan Shearer, a domestic and international striking legend from his record-breaking playing days, labelled the game as the biggest of his career.
And the sentiments of Shearer - who recorded his first win since taking over on a short-term basis at the beginning of April - were reverberating around the North East in the week prior to arguably the biggest Tyne-Tees derby in history.
Middlesbrough, tagged as dead and buried earlier in the season before earning a fighting chance, were also well aware of the must-win importance of the meeting with their fierce, neighbouring foes.
As he plotted a strategy for outwitting his former England team-mate, Shearer, Boro manager Gareth Southgate offered his players a four-day break from the club's Rockliffe Park training ground in order to escape the 'hullabaloo'.
Having taken time to consider his options, Southgate recalled record signing Afonso Alves and handed a first Premier League start to Marvin Emnes, while Andrew Taylor and Mohamed Shawky were also included.
Catastrophic
Meanwhile, Shearer restored Michael Owen to the starting line-up as one of five changes, with Geordie defender Steven Taylor, Kevin Nolan, Danny Guthrie and Jonas Gutierrez also getting the nod, while Damien Duff continued at left-back.
There was a seat on the bench for Martins as he continued to struggle with a groin injury, along with Fabricio Coloccini and Lovenkrands, but the injured Alan Smith and the suspended Joey Barton were missing.
The match exploded into life and it was Boro who opened the scoring in the third minute when Beye - in a catastrophic moment of misfortune which has been a hallmark of Newcastle's campaign - deflected into his own goal following a scramble with Tuncay Sanli.
Newcastle were understandably ruing their luck following a bright start, in which Guthrie had blazed over the bar, and fortune again appeared to abandon the home side as former Boro hero Mark Viduka hit the frame of the goal before Steven Taylor lashed at the rebound.
Steven Taylor, though, responded in style in the ninth minute as the man who joined Newcastle's youth setup in 1995 powered a classic header past Brad Jones from a Guthrie corner to send home fans, awash with a sea of black and white flags, berserk.
The Magpies, roared on by a capacity crowd, were calling the tune in a thrilling first 15 minutes, with Jonas Gutierrez and the advanced Kevin Nolan causing problems against a patched-up Boro rearguard, where Matthew Bates was playing at centre-back.
Boro were looking for out balls to their flanks, but Tuncay and Stewart Downing were struggling to influence when isolated on the left and right, respectively, while their opponents were increasingly dangerous when delivering high balls into the 18-yard area.
And in the 27th minute Newcastle almost took the lead as Viduka, clearly enjoying the task against his ex-club, delivered from wide on left for strike partner Owen to glance a header towards goal, which extracted a tipped save from Jones.
Viduka, though, was then guilty at the other end of the field as the Australian was caught in possession and Emnes forced Steve Harper to parry before poorly slotting his follow-up effort into the side netting following neat footwork.
Cynical
Former Manchester United player Nicky Butt collected the game's first yellow card on the half-hour mark as the six-time Premier League winner showed the cynical experience of a 34-year-old when chopping down the advancing Alves.
Almost immediately after, Alves was again the centre of attention, for the wrong reasons from a Boro perspective, as, under no pressure, the £12million forward twisted an ankle to be stretchered off and replaced by Marlon King.
With less than 10 minutes remaining to the interval, Robert Huth followed Butt into referee Mike Dean's book as the German centre-back man handled Owen, who was attempting to race onto a through ball.
Boro continued to look dangerous when they produced advances upon a Newcastle back four clearly lacking confidence, and Emnes should have done better when mustering an air shot on the stroke of half-time.
After the interval, Newcastle picked up where they left off as Beye broke down the right and Viduka's crafty backheel could not quite apply enough direction to his colleague's low cross.
Butt then saw a 20-yard free-kick deflect for a corner and, with Newcastle continuing to pressure at set-plays, from the resulting kick, Sebastien Bassong headed wide under fire at the back post.
Boro threatened on the counter-attack but, as their hosts scrambled to retreat, 49-time Egypt international Shawky swept an effort well over the head of Harper from range.
The defensive frailties which have marred Newcastle's term continued to appear and on 56 minutes Harper was more than the spectator he had been for Shawky's attempt as the shot-stopper did well to block a Gary O'Neil half-volley.
Southgate's troops were finding their feet and were beginning to enjoy the majority of possession but Tuncay was wasteful with his pass when attempting to feed O'Neil at a promising attack.
Shearer's response with 25 minutes left on the clock was to introduce Lovenkrands as a replacement for Gutierrez, whose influence had decreased as the match progressed.
Southgate opted to follow his former team-mate's lead and ended Shawky's evening as Jeremie Aliadiere entered the fray, while Owen surprisingly made way for Martins as Shearer resisted the urge to revert to predictions of a three-man attack.
Shearer, though, proved he may have the bold and inspired managerial knack as, only 55 seconds after leaving the bench, Martins took a touch and scuffed past Jones on 71 minutes, while Boro claims of offside against Nolan fell on deaf ears.
Boro realised the need to take a risk and sacrificed defender Andrew Taylor for winger Adam Johnson in an attempt to find an equaliser.
But Newcastle ensured they would leapfrog Hull as poor Boro defending allowed Nolan to find Lovenkrands, who made no mistake when blasting into the roof of the net in front of the Gallowgate End with four minutes remaining.
| Newcastle United |
Team Statistics |
Middlesbrough |
| 3 |
Goals |
1 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 9 |
Shots off Target |
6 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 11 |
Corners |
1 |
| 8 |
Fouls |
17 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
5 |
| 3 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 68.2 |
Passing Success |
67 |
| 15 |
Tackles |
28 |
| 80 |
Tackles Success |
75 |
| 51.4 |
Possession |
48.6 |
| 51.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.9 |
|
