Newcastle plot great escape after late win over Boro

Newcastle 3 Middlesbrough 1. Finally, a glimmer of light in the gloom for Alan Shearer's Newcastle side, who came from a goal down after just three minutes at home to local rivals Middlesbrough to take three crucial points with - in the end - and emphatic win.

Prior to the game, Shearer had labelled the match the most important of his career, and from the outset both sides played with the knowledge that a draw would not be enough to rescue them from the relegation morass. Boro drew first blood when Habib Beye turned the ball into his own net after just three minutes, but the St James's Park faithful had something to cheer six minutes later Steven Taylor headed home a Danny Guthrie corner to restore parity.

The match swung back and forth for the next hour with Middlebrough playing the more attractive football but Newcastle, roared on by 51,000 fans, had the edge in terms of passion. However it took the substitution of the largely ineffective Michael Owen with 20 minutes to go to break the deadlock.

His replacement, Obafemi Martins, came off the bench and went straight into Geordie folklore as he put the ball past a despairing Jones in the Boro goal just a minute after coming on. The visitors threw the kitchen sink into trying to get an equaliser, with Emnes just inches away from converting a Tuncay cross, but with just four minutes of regular time to go Peter Lovenkrands made it safe for the home side.

Newcastle rose above Hull into 17th place - and safety - with this victory and will take heart that their two remaining games against Fulham at St James's Park this weekend and away at Aston Villa on the last day of the season, seem an easier run-in on paper than Hull's ties against Manchester United and Bolton.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:
Oliver Kay, the Times: "Taking off Michael Owen was a decision that will have gone against everything Shearer felt that he knew about the game when he first accepted Newcastle’s emergency call at the end of March, but, as he stood on the touchline, watching this critical game pass Gareth Southgate, his former England team-mate, by, it was a move that he found irresistible. Off came Owen and on went Obafemi Martins, who, within 55 seconds, had scored the goal that kick-started Newcastle’s survival bid and left Middlesbrough staring into the abyss with relegation looming."

Kevin McCarra, the Guardian: "Alan Shearer has got into the overwrought scheme of things, waiting until his sixth game in charge for a first victory in management. Until now, the side had not won a match in this campaign after being behind. There was refinement in spells from Gareth Southgate's squad, but too much of this campaign has been conducted to the sound of murmured expressions of goodwill towards a team that does not make the smoothness count." ·