Eurosport - Tue, 12 May 15:35:00 2009
Alan Shearer made two inspired substitutions as Newcastle United beat Middlesbrough 3-1 at St James' Park to climb out of the Premier League relegation zone.
The Newcastle manager introduced strikers Obafemi Martins and Peter Lovenkrands in the second half, and both scored to earn his team a precious victory against their North East rivals.
A Habib Beye own-goal put Middlesbrough ahead inside five minutes, before Steven Taylor's powerful header saw the relegation battle into the break at 1-1.
Martins scored with his first touch after replacing Michael Owen on 71 minutes to put United ahead, and Lovenkrands sealed all three points with a convincing finish five minutes from time.
The result moves Newcastle above Hull City on goal difference and outside the bottom three.
Boro, meanwhile, slide deeper into the mire and are now three points from safety with just two matches of the Premier League season remaining.
It all started so well for Gareth Southgate's team when Tuncay's sharp turn in the box created space for a shot on three minutes
Steve Harper saved the Turkish striker's stabbed effort, but the Newcastle goalkeeper could only watch on in anguish as his parry was deflected into the net by the helpless Beye.
Boro's lead would last just six minutes.
Newcastle drew level when Taylor lost his marker and glanced home Danny Guthrie's right-wing corner with a firm header.
The goal gave the home side belief and on 27 minutes Brad Jones made a fine reaction save to stop Owen's goalbound header.
Boro's Marvin Emnes then shot wide after Harper saved his initial effort, but the teams went into the break all square.
The first genuine chance of the second half also fell to Boro, but once again Harper came to the rescue, parrying a powerful drive from Gary O'Neill.
With a draw no good for either side, Shearer then shuffled his pack - first introducing Lovenkrands for Jonas Gutierrez and then Martins for Owen, who once again delivered a low-key performance.
Martins had been on the field for just 55 seconds when he took possession inside the Boro box and shot past Jones, despite falling over in the process.
Lovenkrands sealed victory for Newcastle, blasting home Kevin Nolan's right-wing cross to send the St James' Park crowd into hysteria.
Shearer's team face Fulham at home next, before a trip to Aston Villa completes their season.
Boro, meanwhile, face Villa at home on Saturday, followed by a visit to West Ham on the final day.
Comment 124 - 143 of 183
Well in the toon. Put aside manure and liverfool me being the latter i hope yous stay up i hope this hopefully near miss gives you the kick up the arse that you need. I know its been said before but Newcastle are a BIG club. Fingers crossed they beat the drop. That being said they havnt won nish for ages they need to get real. They should be challenging for Europe at the very least. Since when have Everton and with all respect Fulham become bigger than Newcastle???. Your biggest mistake can be summed up in one word KEEGAN.
What does that make it for Shearer, 1 win and 5 losses out of 6 games, or something like that. Hardly great, new managers at most clubs at least have a honeymoon period with some wins to start with. Now everyone is calling Shearer the saviour, go figure
Owen is well past his sell-by date. Shearer needs to throw him overboard. Maybe Boro would be interested.......?
still not safe yet.hope they dont go down cos i like derby games and its 6 points for sunderland :)
well down newcastle just win another game and you could survive it and also there needs to be a big clear out
Newcastle will probably just sneak it now pity they never tried like that all year Shearer needs to offload nearly all of them
get in their newcastle, well done for the subs shearer. but gotta admit, wasnt too hard to figure out. owen was hiding round the pitch and making it as though we were playing with 10 lads. drop him n start martins next games x
newcastle were lucky I thought Boro played the best football. It was a great game but Boro missed too many chances and you can't do that. NuFC need three points now because Hull won't beat Manure
newcasale are the best
Newcastle is a great club and deserves to stay in PL. Yesterdays game was amazing. They were running like wild hamsters the whole 90 mins. You dont see so much effort even in the Champ league final. :-))
got the whole game on radio 5 never again, lost a stone in weight. sorry Hull prefered mackems to drop but thats life, we are staying up that counts more
wish you all the best Shear
boro are probably going down now. well done Alan
fulham aston villa,tall order ,mr shearer,at least youve found strikers that can strike.!!good luck.
Well done Newcastle - but it still isn't over. Don't get carried away with the Alan Shearer "miracle"
Millions of TV viewers could see that Owen was never going to score -and that Viduka was not100% fit. So replacing them wasn't exactly and act of genius.
Don,t stop know boys lets roll over Fulham and make it easy for ourselves in the last game
Well done Alen. Nwecastle can make new histry in the Foodball world in next season if Alen shear will remain as a Manager.
I want to see middlesborough, westbrom and hull city relegated because or erratic results. Midds beat liverpoo, hull beat arsenal and what the helm are they doing down there at the bottom of the table?
At Last, although not a Toon army man or NU supporter I am pleased for all you fans and AS, it does take time to establish a pattern but good luck in the remaining games.
Honestly speaking, Newcastle should not flirt around with relegation. They are too good to do that. Hopefully Shearer will guide Newcastle to hard-earned victories in their last two matches.
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