Hoddle banking on Shearer class to tell

NEWCASTLE UNITED'S melodramatic victory over Leicester City last Sunday made wonderful television viewing but the plot was vaguely familiar.

A team losing 3-1 with the game more than an hour old eventually wins 4-3 in stoppage time with the aid of a hat trick that includes a rifle shot of a free kick? Clearly somebody had stumbled across a yellowing script of the 1953 FA Cup final between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers and decided to rework it for BSkyB.

For the sake of modern authenticity certain things had to go, Stanley Matthews for one. There is no way that a stooping, bow legged 38 year old hero of the 1950s could still be a credible figure in the age of the wing back. And the fact that Stan would have regarded some of today's excuses for full backs as Christmas come early does not overcome the difficulty of expecting someone to demonstrate the dribbler's art while apparently wearing, not shorts but two large pillowcases tied together at the waist.

Nor did Leicester have to suffer Bolton's handicap of seeing an important midfield player - Eric Bell, the man most likely to restrict Ernie Taylor's service to Matthews - reduced to a hobble after 20 minutes. Instead Leicester's legs gave way collectively as the game approached its climax.

The leading role, however, presented no difficulty, even at a distance of 44 years. For Stan Mortensen read Alan Shearer, and it could just as easily have been the reverse because neither would have been a stranger to the other's era.

Not that Shearer is similar to Mottensen in style. His centre forward play is more reminiscent of another member of the losing side in 1953, Nat Lofthouse, band aged hero of an English victory in Vienna the previous summer. Emile Heskey's dash to score Leicester's third goal on Sunday bore stronger echoes of Mortensen's explosive pace.

No, it was the way that Shearer, having restored Newcastle's interest in the contest with a free kick of a velocity comparable to Mort's famous equaliser at Wembley, simply refused to countenance anything but a win for his side, even though Movietone News defending had brought them to the brink of defeat.

Nowhere in the world do strikers of the quality of Mortensen or Shearer come along that often. Jimmy Greaves and Gary Lineker are the most natural takers of goals to play for England since the second World War, and Bobby Charlton's marksmanship remains unsurpassed, but the way Shearer is playing now he has strong claims to be regarded as a more complete footballer than even these famous players.

What was it Glenn Hoddle said recently? "England have had many great strikers over the years, players excellent in certain aspects of the game, but there is no chink in Shearer's armour.

"He is not just after the glory of scoring goals. He crosses the ball as well as any winger. He is a very clever player who works hard. He is not afraid to put himself about and he isn't intimidated by aggressive tactics."

How Cesare Maldini must wish that Franco Baresi was still playing international football. For whatever side Hoddle puts out against Italy Shearer is the man most likely win the match for England.

Yes football is more of a team game than ever and no one team is bigger than the team, but in October Shearer's two goals rescued England from an evening of muddle and despair after Poland had taken an early lead, and without him an all too familiar tale of impending failure might have started to unroll.

In the winter of 1953 the Matthews final seemed long gone as the Hungarians came to Wembley and introduced England to football's space age. Italy will be hoping to demonstrate that our game needs a spot of revision that an entertaining product in the Premiership can look flawed at international level.

Shearer is capable of turning such thinking into so much spaghetti bolognese. Just as Mortensen did when England beat Italy 4-0 in Turin in the days of sweet rationing and clothing coupons.