Bellamy Hailed by the one and only Shearer

By Matthew Jones
September 23 2002

Craig Bellamy, the Tyne-and-Wear derby hero has been hailed by team-mate Alan Shearer after his great performance on Saturday. Shearer has however, also told Bellamy to keep his mouth shut!

Craig Bellamy, the Tyne-and-Wear derby hero has been hailed by team-mate Alan Shearer after his great performance on Saturday. Shearer has however, also told Bellamy to keep his mouth shut!

Bellamy opened the scoring for United after just 83 seconds against their local rivals and was outstanding throughout the whole game in only his second Premiership start since February - due to injury.

Shearer said that Craig had a fantastic game and people probably don't realise how difficult it is to come back into the team after seven months out. Shearer said that you can't just come in and pick up where you left off.

"You need a bit of breathing space when you come back. There is a lot of pressure on him because people expect so much after last season, but he gives us another dimension, there is no doubt about that. He took his goal very well and I thought he had won us a penalty in the second half. Even if it wasn't a penalty, I thought it was very harsh to book him."

But Shearer added that unfortunately people are starting to look out for him now and he has to learn to keep his mouth shut sometimes, but that is the way he is and how he gets himself going in games.