Blackburn bag points as Shearer is stifled

Newcastle - 0 Blackburn - 1 "Shearer, Shearer, what's the score?" chorused the jubilant Blackburn fans congregated in a corner of the Milburn Stand. They have never quite forgiven Alan Shearer for defecting to Tyneside and delighted in an afternoon which saw the hero of their 1995 championship triumph marked out of a game which saw him forced to operate with his back to goal for virtually the entire 90 minutes."

Centre-halves still hate playing against Alan Shearer but Markus Babbel and Andy Todd dealt with him very well," said Blackburn manager Graeme Souness. "Our defending got us the win."

They needed it, too, having started the match a point above the relegation positions and later suffering the loss of Barry Ferguson to a knee injury that will rule him out of action for the rest of the season. The midfielder, a £7.5 million signing from Rangers after the start of the campaign, broke a kneecap after falling awkwardly in a tussle with Gary Speed.

"If you've watched us over the last few weeks, he's been our outstanding player," said Souness. "He's in hospital, we're going to go and pick him up on the way back and he'll have it all wired up either tonight or tomorrow. That's a blow to us given that we don't carry a great big squad.

"It was an innocuous challenge - I think he's the one who's making the challenge. That just shows you, with the pace of our game, if you get it wrong at all, you're risking everything."

Rumour has it that Souness was auditioning for a possible future role as Bobby Robson's successor and he was certainly in an unusually mellow mood. He knew he had been a little lucky, in the victory if not the injury, and readily admitted that Paul Gallagher's winner, which had more than a hint of handball about it, was "slightly fortunate".

If Ferguson's season is over, Michael Chopra hopes his is just beginning. Newcastle's young Asian striker, making his first senior start, had the ball in the net after a cross from Nolberto Solano. Rightly that effort was judged offside and in general he was over-eager, failed to gel with Shearer and once received one of his captain's hallmark hostile stares when they collided while pursuing the same ball.

Shearer had appeared poised to head beyond Brad Friedel after connecting with another first-half Solano cross but this time Todd - who, despite collecting an early booking, had an excellent game - did enough to distract Newcastle's number nine.

It had been widely expected that Shearer's attacking partner would be Kieron Dyer but Robson explained afterwards that the midfielder was suffering from a stomach complaint, requiring him to enter hospital for a minimum of two days' tests.

Back on the pitch Andy Cole, a Newcastle old boy, subjected Titus Bramble to a tough examination. Although a spurned half-chance of the sort he would probably have buried five years ago confirmed the impression that Cole's best days are almost certainly behind him, he would have jogged St James's memories of his prolific past had Andy O'Brien not cleared his goal-bound header off the line after the last in a series of Bramble blunders.

If the Toon army once idolised Cole, they harbour considerable affection for Solano and, considering the Peruvian was one of Newcastle's more positive performers here, were dismayed when Robson replaced him with Darren Ambrose in a double switch which also saw Lomana Lua-Lua come on in Chopra's stead. It remains a mystery why Robson has such a downer on Solano.

While many of Robson's substitutions turn out to be inspired, his side conceded the controversial goal within a minute of this one. Gallagher out-muscled two defenders and chested - or, as Newcastle probably correctly maintained, handballed - Brett Emerton's cross beyond Shay Given from close range after Olivier Bernard's poor clearance was intercepted by the impressive Australian international.

Emerton, a Newcastle transfer target in his Feyenoord days, was Blackburn's best midfielder; he not only subdued Laurent Robert but was their most incisive passer.

Souness deserves credit for the courage to promote Gallagher, all tidy touches and intelligent ball holding, from the youth team during a tricky season for Rovers in which many managers would have trusted only experience. "Paul's just 18 but he's a proper player," said Blackburn's manager. "He sees the whole picture; he's got a great future."

With Robson's shorter-term hopes of Champions League football set back, it was small wonder he greeted the offer of Christmas cake with a baleful stare. "I'd rather have three points than free cake," he said.