Robert, Shearer give Newcastle easy win

Newcastle 4 Tottenham 0

Newcastle skipper Alan Shearer scored his 100th goal at St James’ Park and added a second for good measure, but still could not wrestle the headlines away from team-mate Laurent Robert.

The 33-year-old poked home a 59th-minute Robert corner and then headed home another cross from the Frenchman seven minutes later to take his goal tally for the season to 16 and wrap up a comfortable victory over Tottenham.

However, the stunning double which the Frenchman had claimed earlier to fire his side into a 2-0 lead had to be seen to be believed.

Robert’s unstoppable 35th-minute volley had stunned a Spurs side which had enjoyed the better of the game until that point, but he produced an even better finish 10 minutes after the break to lash a 30-yard drive past the helpless Kasey Keller.

The Magpies were irresistible in the second half and might have won even more comfortably, and the signs are that their best form is slowly coming back.

Sir Bobby Robson labelled his side’s second-half display against Liverpool last Saturday as perhaps their best of the season to date, and it was with a sense of anticipation that the Geordie hordes arrived at St James’ Park again hoping to witness more of the same.

However, what they got, before the break at least, was a largely disjointed performance as the visitors were allowed to dictate the pace and pattern of the game for long periods.

Where Spurs had a solid shape with Darren Anderton and Paul Konchesky providing the width in midfield and full-backs Stephen Carr and Mauricio Taricco supporting from behind, the Magpies lacked any real shape as Kieron Dyer and Robert drifted from their wings and too often ended up side by side.

Jonathan Woodgate and Titus Bramble were by far the busier pair of central defenders, although the lively Robbie Keane and Frederic Kanoute did not cause too many genuine problems.

What Robson’s men needed was a little inspiration, and it could hardly have arrived at a better time.

Four minutes after Kanoute had failed to get a touch to Konchesky’s driven 31st-minute cross, his compatriot Robert produced the decisive moment of the first half.

There seemed little on for Newcastle as Shola Ameobi battled manfully against Anthony Gardner and Ledley King on the edge of the Spurs box, and even he could not have expected what was to follow when the ball looped up to Robert 20 yards out.

The former Paris St Germain winger decided that direct action was the best option and despatched a stinging left-foot volley over Keller and into the back of the net to open the scoring.

It was just what the Magpies needed, and they might have increased their lead in the closing minutes of the half, Keller saving well from Ameobi after the home side staged a break-way from their own goal-line and then Dyer wastefully failing to find a black and white shirt in the middle after tearing away from Paul Konchesky and Mauricio Taricco on the right.

If Spurs thought they had weathered the storm, they were to be sadly disappointed as the fell further behind within 10 minutes of the restart.

Robert’s first goal may have been good enough to win any game, but his second was even better when, after collecting Gary Speed’s pass wide on the left, he teed the ball up and then hammered a swerving shot into Keller’s top corner from all of 30 yards.

Predictably, the Frenchman was encouraged to shoot by the vast majority of a crowd of 52,139 every time he touched the ball thereafter, and although he was off-target with a long-range kick, he turned provider on 59 minutes.

His corner was tailor-made for Shearer to poke home from close-range, and the same combination did the trick again on 66 minutes when the winger’s corner was allowed to bounce inside the penalty area and Shearer headed it home off the underside of the bar, sparking a heated post mortem among the visitors’ defence.

Shearer would have completed a hat-trick with a dipping 25-yard strike 12 minutes from time but for a fine save by Keller, although Shay Given needed to be at his best to keep out King’s close-range 84th-minute effort.