Rovers bite hand that fed them

Latest results being nine-tenths of professional sport, reputations tend to rest on what has happened in the past five minutes rather that what has occurred in the past five years. Thus Alan Shearer turned up at Ewood Park on Monday night to find him self the object of Blackburn Rovers supporters' derision. The fact that Shearer scored a quite staggering 112 goals in 132 Premiership starts for Blackburn between the years of 1992 and 1996, and that 34 of them came in the 1994-95 season when Rovers won the Premiership, counted for less than the fact that Shearer now plays for Newcastle United.

Logic dictates that, given his record at Ewood, Shearer should be a hero there forever, and he has received warm welcomes on previous returns, but Rovers have had a miserable time of late and there may be an increasing number who trace the beginning of their decline to the day in July 1996 when Shearer left Lancashire for his native Tyneside. Their bitterness has not been soothed by the £11.4 million profit Blackburn made on buying and selling Shearer.

It could have been worse for Rovers fans, Shearer could have joined Manchester United. Maybe because he did not choose that route Blackburn supporters retained some affection for Shearer, but it was obvious before kick-off that something had changed. Shearer was booed during the warm-up and then constantly from his first kick.

As Blackburn manager Tony Parkes had warned the home crowd beforehand, attempting to wind Shearer up is a futile exercise as he will only respond with goals. But Parkes was ignored and Shearer duly scored. "I told you so," was the gist of Parkes's post-match comments. "I've seen him do it for Blackburn on many occasions."

Shearer, who is not famous for his magnanimity at the best of times, was so incensed by the abuse he was given that his post-match remarks were unusually revealing. "I've waited four years to do that," he said of his two goals. He had scored against Blackburn at St James' Park, but not at Ewood. His relish at the fresh achievement was undisguised.

"I'm a proud Geordie and I loved those goals," he continued, "they were the perfect response to the reception I received. I was saddened by what I heard. After 100-plus goals for Blackburn, a championship and four years of good service I could have expected more. But I wasn't totally surprised. I've waited four years to go back and show I still score goals and I've done it."

Shearer's two strikes have set up a quarter-final with Tranmere Rovers, one of three to be played on Sunday February 20th, the day of the Leeds United-Man United Premiership match. Having already eliminated four Premiership clubs from the League and FA Cups this season - Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Coventry and West Ham - Tranmere will not fear a fifth. Newcastle, however, were the last club from the top division to win at Prenton Park, in last season's League Cup.

As Shearer said: "We won there 1-0 and that would do again." He then turned his thoughts to Tranmere's long-throw specialist Dave Challinor and added: "We know all about that. Nobody has been able to combat it, but we'll be ready."

Considering that for about a decade Newcastle's brittle defence has been their chief weakness, John Aldridge would presumably smile to himself about that. On Monday night, even Bobby Robson admitted that his central pairing of Nikos Dabizas and Helder was "turned and tormented constantly" by the far from intimidating duo of Matt Jansen and Nathan Blake.

Robson said that the Magherafelt, Co Derry-born 20-year-old Aaron Hughes was "majestic" in comparison to his first two choices, although whether Hughes has done enough to warrant a call-up to face Niall Quinn in Saturday's eagerly-awaited north-east derby at the Stadium of Light is uncertain.

Shearer, though, will definitely start, thereby making up for his substitute's appearance against Sunderland at St James' in Ruud Gullit's last match as Newcastle manager in August. A week after that, Man United are on Tyneside. It's a big fortnight for Shearer's reputation.

As for Blackburn's, they too can restore some pride quickly when they visit Bolton on Saturday. Monday's defeat was only their third in the 15 matches since Parkes succeeded Brian Kidd three months ago.