Football story by Gareth Bowman, Sun, 05 Feb 2006 11:00:00 GMT


Alan Shearer broke Jackie Millburn's Newcastle club record as he netted in his 201st goal for the Magpies and guided them to a much-needed 2-0 win over Portsmouth in Premiership action yesterday. Newcastle registered their first win in seven matches and their first since caretaker manager Glenn Roeder took over from Graeme Souness who was sacked earlier this week.

Charles N'Zogbia put the Toons ahead on 41 minutes and it stayed 1-0 at the break even though Shearer and Ameobi came close a couple of times. Dean Kiely was kept buy in the Pompey goal and he gave an inspired performance in the first half. Newcastle continued to press forward at every opportunity in the second half as well. An Ameobi back heel landed at Shearer's feet on 64 minutes and he had his record then with a superb finish. Portsmouth look like it is the Championship for then next season and it is hard to see them coming out of the relegation zone notwithstanding the Russian investment.

Newcastle's caretaker manager Glenn Roeder said the match was as perfect as it got, "Winning 2-0 was the perfect result, but then throw into the mix Alan Shearer breaking the record, then you have got the lot, haven't you? The way he scored the goal, there have been so many Shearer goals like that," he said. Harry Redknapp admitted that it was a difficult time for them, "It was interesting they could put in a performance like that after such a bad run. But they have a team full of good players and it was difficult for us."


Match Details
Referee: M Halsey

Newcastle: Given, Ramage, Boumsong, Bramble, Babayaro, Solano (Dyer 74), Parker (Clark 86), Emre (Bowyer 74), N'Zogbia, Shearer, Ameobi.
Goals: N'Zogbia 41, Shearer 64.

Portsmouth: Kiely, Griffin (Pamarot 46), Primus, O'Brien, Taylor, Routledge (Todorov 46), Davis (Diao 76), Pedro Mendes, O'Neil, D'Alessandro, Mwaruwari.

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