Owen brace sees off WBA
Two goals for Michael Owen helped Newcastle move into the top half of the table with victory over West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.
Alan Shearer came on as a substitute to add the third in what was Graeme Souness’s side’s fourth win in their last six Premiership matches. Despite the defeat, West Brom remain just above the relegation zone in 17th place.
Souness was happy to see an improvement in the quality of football played by his charges. He said: “Our football was good today and we scored good goals. Michael Owen is a proven goal scorer — he did not take part that much in the first half, but then within seconds of the second half starting he put us 1-0 up.”
Owen’s opener was supplied by Emre, with the England striker doing well to volley the ball past Tomasz Kuszczak in the West Brom goal. The visitors had to wait until 12 minutes before the final whistle to find a second. Owen was there once again to convert a cross from Kieron Dyer, who was returning from injury
Shearer’s cameo appearance was academic to the destination of the three points, but it moved him another goal closer to Jackie Milburn’s all-time Newcastle scoring record. The former England captain has now netted 197 times for the Magpies.