Newcastle begin to believe again

Newcastle 1 Liverpool 0: Newcastle captain Alan Shearer has not given up hope of ending his glittering career by lifting a trophy for his home-town club. The 34-year-old, who seems determined not to rethink his retirement plans - despite the repeated pleas of manager Graeme Souness - helped the Magpies to a fifth successive victory on Saturday as Laurent Robert's free-kick eventually saw off Liverpool.

However, with a momentum now building at St James' Park, Shearer and his team-mates have set their sights on an unlikely charge for a top-six finish - derby rivals Middlesbrough currently occupy the last spot with a five-point lead, but have played a game more - as well as the FA and UEFA Cups.

"We have to keep this going, we really have," said Shearer. "We believe we can go far in the cups and we have to keep winning. We are relying on other people, unfortunately, to help us out in the league, but if we keep on winning then we will keep on climbing the table and then, come the end of the season, who knows where we will finish? But it is now over to the cup competitions again and we will have to see what we can do."

Heerenveen twice, Chelsea, Bolton and now Liverpool have fallen by the wayside as Newcastle have rediscovered the ability to win after their season reached crunch-point. Another double test within three days will come this week when they meet Olympiacos in Greece in Thursday with a UEFA Cup quarter-final place at stake and then entertain Tottenham in the last eight of the FA Cup next Sunday.

Ravaged by injuries, Liverpool rarely exposed the Magpies' defence - Luis Garcia looping one shot on to the roof of Shay Given's net and Steven Gerrard squandering a gilt-edged chance to equalise in injury-time, and although the home side did not work debutant goalkeeper Scott Carson much harder, Robert produced a superb free-kick 19 minutes from time to claim the points.

The loss left Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez bemoaning his side's away form. "If we do not win away games, it will be very, very difficult to reduce the gap.

"It is a difficult moment for us, but we have an important game next week, a Champions League game and until the end of the season, we need to work hard because three points in each game is a lot of points."