Football story by Georgina Scane, Tue, 01 Nov 2005 10:04:00 GMT


A solid second-half performance from Newcastle and Michael Owen at the Hawthorns saw them comfortably beat West Bromwich Albion 3-0 in a match, which saw a surprised Alan Shearer starting on the bench. The win saw the Magpies, who have now won their 4th game in the last 6 matches, jump over Blackburn and Middlesbrough into the top half of the table.

The ex-Real Madrid player overcame his ever-present hamstring problem that saw him miss action for a couple of weeks to score 2 goals taking his overall tally at his new club to 4 goals in 5 matches.

The match started on an even footing with the Baggies manager, Bryan Robson shuffling his attacking force to field a ninth different pair in 11 matches. WBA defended predictably as a relegation battling team does when faced with a superior opponent.

The first real chance of the match came in the 37th minute when Owen's shot was deflected away by the baggies keeper Tomasz Kuszczak, though it has to be said that Owen's first touch did let him down, a point not denied by the man himself, "I was awful in the first half. My touch was everywhere but it started to come together in the second half a bit better", he said. It took just 20 seconds after the break for him to put his act together.

Charles N'Zogbia continued to impress pundits with a fine cross from the left, which saw Owen volley it past Kuszczak from just 6 yards out. The goal seemed to have waked up the sleeping Baggies, who were content to just absorb the pressure applied by Newcastle. This time, Shay Given was the Newcastle hero denying Robert Earnshaw time and again as West Brom looked to get back into the match.

Graeme Souness then introduced Shearer in the 65th minute who at the start of the match was just 4 goals away from equaling Jackie Milburn's club record of 200 goals. Just 12 minutes from time and Owen's strikers' instincts saw him score his second goal when he was first to react to a low cross from the right by Kieron Dyer playing in his first match since late August.

Two minutes later Shearer scored his 197th goal for the club when he diverted Peter Ramage's cross past the West Brom keeper.

The win comes as a relief to the Newcastle manager who had seen his team get just 2 points from the first 5 matches. ``Some of our football was good today. We've been missing five or six players but that quality showed today'', he said. It is being rumored that Souness would lose his job if Newcastle fails to qualify to Europe this season.

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