Spurs see off Shearer’s Newcastle

Tottenham 1 Newcastle 0. Alan Shearer remains without a win as Newcastle boss after the St James' Park outfit failed to reverse Darren Bent's 24th minute winner for Harry Redknapp's Tottenham.

"Alan Shearer said that he wished Newcastle United's next game - against Portsmouth - was scheduled for today, so keen is he to discover the key to delivering a victory for his team. Yesterday's defeat altered nothing, he argued. He knew he had to beat Portsmouth at St James' Park next Monday 'and nothing has changed'. But something has changed. The nights are getting warmer and Newcastle are even more firmly embedded in the relegation zone than they were two days ago," reports the Times.

"Tottenham Hotspur had failed to beat Newcastle in their previous six league meetings but if that was part of Shearer’s pre-match team-talk, it did not show. The visiting team were hesitant, the home side full of verve, the heavens full of cruel parallels. Tottenham, like Newcastle, are a big club that achieve too little. Tottenham, like Newcastle, looked to Harry Redknapp to change their fortunes. Tottenham, like Newcastle, have stared relegation in the face this season. Redknapp chose Spurs, however, and has guided the club away from peril.

"Tottenham are a Kafka-esque sort of club. They strive towards a European place, the very thing they despaired of possessing earlier this season. 'It would be a great achievement now,' Redknapp said. It was a serious annoyance back in February however when Redknapp was juggling relegation, a Carling Cup final and the Uefa Cup. But life is simpler at White Hart Lane these days.

"A late surge towards Europe must look so decadent in the eyes of the Newcastle faithful. Their club have five games left in which to avert disaster and that must have seemed an unlikely outcome on the evidence of the team's first-half performance, although Shearer brought on Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins in the second half, who at least created chances and made Newcastle more of a handful."