Football: Shearer provides Newcastle fantasy

Newcastle United 4 Leicester City 3

Leicester City have been eye witnesses so often at defining moments in Newcastle United's recent history that you wonder if this might be another milestone. Certainly a championship campaign that seemed to be dieing was re-invigorated by a marvellous comeback at St James' Park yesterday.

Trailing 3-1 with 14 minutes to go and with an eight-point chasm looming between themselves and the Premiership summit, Newcastle secured a thrilling and unlikely win with an Alan Shearer hat-trick. The master striker whose career has often seemed to belong to comic books yesterday defied belief.

"I have a better understanding now why Kevin Keegan's hair was going grey," Kenny Dalglish, who succeeded Keegan last month, said. "There's nothing more you can say about Shearer, not with my education anyway."

The advantage in this match swung violently from one side to the other. Newcastle, who beat Leicester to stay in the Second Division in 1992 and who defeated them again to gain promotion to the Premiership 12 months later, should have won the game with an avalanche of early chances. Instead it was they who were almost buried.

The first half belonged so much to the home team that it was a surprise that they reached the interval with only a one-goal advantage. Robbie Elliott had put them ahead after two minutes, shooting in via Julian Watts' boot.

That heralded a ferocious Newcastle bombardment that should have destroyed Leicester. When Kasey Keller denied Robert Lee for a second time with another acrobatic dive six minutes after the interval, it seemed that the story of Newcastle supremacy was about to be repeated. Instead the match turned on its head and then went 180 degrees back again.

Leicester had looked clumsy and out-gunned but when Matt Elliott rose at the far post to head in Gary Parker's cross after 55 minutes they underwent a transformation. Newcastle's supremacy was rudely taken away from them and within 13 minutes the visitors had established an unlikely 3-1 lead.

First Steve Claridge took advantage of some hapless defending to beat Shaka Hislop from eight yards and then the Newcastle rearguard evaporated completely as Emile Heskey took off down the right and beat Hislop with a fierce low shot into the far corner from the edge of the area.

St James' Park was stunned. The championship, an ambition cherished all the more for last season's near miss, was disapearing before their eyes. Mistakes were jeered, the Newcastle attack looked toothless and ragged.

Then David Ginola was brought down on the edge after 76 minutes and life began to course through the corpse. Shearer had been virtually anonymous but he exploded into the match with a venomous free-kick that crashed past Keller into the top corner of the net.

If that was a good goal, the next, after 85 minutes, was even better. Shearer's avenues appeared to be blocked after Les Ferdinand had found him amid a thicket of defenders on the left of the Leicester area. A normal striker would have tried to pass but Shearer is far from normal and he shot through Watts' legs and into the far corner.

Leicester, bedraggled and desperate, still had a point and they clung to it for dear life amid a storm of Newcastle attacks until the third minute of injury time. Lee completed a one-two with Lee Clark on the right and then crossed to the far post where Shearer was there to tap in.

Goals: R Elliott (3) 1-0; Claridge (60) 1-1; M Elliott (55) 1-2; Heskey (68) 1-3; Shearer (77) 2-3, (83) 3-3, (90) 4-3.

Newcastle United (3-4-1-2): Hislop; Albert, Peacock, Watson; Gillespie (Ginola, 68), Lee, Batty, R Elliott; Asprilla (Clark, 87); Shearer, Ferdinand. Substitutes not used: Beardsley, Barton, Srnicek (gk).

Leicester City (5-4-1): Keller; Grayson, Prior, M Elliott, Watts, Izzet; Taylor (Lawrence, 80), Lennon, Parker, Heskey; Claridge. Substitutes not used: Robins, Hills, Wilson, Poole (gk).

Referee: M Reed (Birmingham).

Bookings: Newcastle: Lee, Batty; Leicester: Elliott, Izzet, Taylor, Grayson.

Man of the match: Shearer.

Attendance: 36,396.