Shearer targets landmark

[KyZer]

Alan Shearer is keeping his fingers crossed that he gets a chance to make up for the one that got away as Newcastle United return to UEFA Cup action in Israel on Thursday night.
The 34-year-old scored what he thought was the 350th league and cup goal of his career on Saturday as he wrapped up his side’s 3-1 Barclays Premiership victory over West Brom four minutes from time.

However, he flew to Tel Aviv, where United take on Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin at the Ramat Gan Stadium, having learnt that what he thought was his previous strike in the 2-1 win at Southampton has been confirmed as an own goal by David Prutton.

Shearer is a man who jealously guards his goals and that could be bad news for the Israeli minnows.

The former England captain was left on the bench along with Craig Bellamy as a Patrick Kluivert double secured a 2-0 first leg lead, but with work still to be done before the Magpies can claim their place in the group stage of the competition, Shearer is eager to feature.

Sakhnin showed at St James’ Park that they are a physical side - skipper Abas Suan was sent off along with United’s Nicky Butt - but the visitors are ready to meet force with force.

“We’re going there to get the job done,” Shearer said. “It will be a tough game because we’ve seen what they are like away from home, and with their own crowd behind them, they might be even worse.

“We’re expecting that, but we’re going there to get the job done and hopefully to get through.

“They are a very physical side, and that was not a one-off performance from them at St James’ Park. That’s the way they will play on Thursday.

“They are a tough side and they do not give a lot away.”

Manager Graeme Souness too has warned his players that they will face an onslaught from their opponents, and not necessarily in a football sense.

“I think it will be more of the same,” he said. “I think they’ll try to prevent the game from being a free-flowing football match.

“They’ll be looking to break it up at every opportunity. It’s up to us to make sure, along with the referee, that it’s a football match.

“We know what to expect. We’ve seen the colour of their eyes, we know what they’re going to offer and it’s up to us to do whatever we have to do to get through in this tie.

“What we mustn’t do is allow ourselves to get caught up in what we allowed ourselves to get caught up in in the second half.”

Butt’s absence through suspension - he was banned for three games for his tussle with Abas - may prove less costly to his side than that of his fellow combatant, who will also sit the game out, although the England international’s battling qualities will be missed.

However, Sakhnin coach Eyal Lachman believes his side has been unfairly labelled.

“We’re playing a normal football game which here in Israel is sometimes perceived as over-violent, but I don’t understand why,” he said.

“When European teams used to come to Israel to play, people would say they were playing too physical and aggressive. When we deploy the same tactics, they say we might be too aggressive, but I don’t think so.

“We’re a young team that never thinks of the 90th minute, we always think of the first minute.

“We’re a very small team. There’s a massive gap between us and Newcastle, but we have a team which I think can do a job.”

Souness will hope Bellamy fully recovers from the ankle injury he picked up against West Brom, although he could choose to rest him anyway with little striking cover on the bench as Shola Ameobi awaits an assessment of his hip problem.

Titus Bramble and Ronny Johnsen are still working their way towards match fitness, while Kieron Dyer is likely to be out for another four weeks with his damaged hamstring.

Newcastle United (from): Given, Harper, Carr, Bernard, O’Brien, Elliott, Hughes, Taylor, Ramage, Bowyer, Jenas, Robert, Milner, Ambrose, Brittain, Shearer, Bellamy, Kluivert.