Football: Tyneside warming to Dalglish Jnr's talent

Newcastle United 2 Nottingham Forest

THERE WAS not just one notable individual missing from St James' Park on Saturday. Like Pierre van Hooijdonk, Nottingham Forest's professional absentee, Paul Dalglish's father was nowhere to be seen.

It was understandable, given the legal battle Kenny Dalglish is fighting against Newcastle United over the disputed events which led to his abrupt departure from managerial office five weeks ago. It is Dalglish the younger, however, who has been left in the most awkward situation at St James'.

He is attempting to establish his career with the club Dalglish Snr intends to take to court, under the man who snatched his father's job. It is not the most promising set of professional circumstances, a minefield Nigel Clough and Darren Ferguson never had to negotiate.

It may yet, of course, explode in Dalglish Jnr's face - a face that could be a mirror for his father's. For the time being, however, he is tiptoeing quite adeptly.

Technically speaking, the walk-on part he was handed on Saturday was not his first break. After an injury-time appearance at Coventry and one start on loan at Bury last season, the 31 minutes he was given on the Premiership stage marked Dalglish's big-time debut.

He took his opportunity to play a supporting role too, if not a starring one. He fluffed the one chance that came his way, courtesy of Alan Shearer, shooting wide from the left edge of the Forest penalty area in the 86th minute. But then he showed an assurance of which his father would have been proud.

A minute later, with St James' still sighing on his behalf, he set Shearer away with a measured through-ball from the half-way line. It led Newcastle to their second goal, Alan Rogers felling Shearer and the England captain scoring his second goal of the day - his seventh in four matches - from the penalty spot.

It also prompted chants of "Dalglish", which never rang round St James' with quite so much feeling in his father's time there. Paul Dalglish has the sympathetic support of the Toon Army as he strives to make his own footsteps in the football world.

Whether he will follow in the steps of his father remains to be seen. At 21, he has the same poised carriage, the same pivoting feet and the same ruddy-faced enthusiasm. As his new boss is quick to point out, however, he is far from any sort of finished article.

"He is young," Gullit said. "He wants to show himself. And we know what his qualities are. If he manages to have more vision around him maybe Paul is going to have a good future. It is all part of the learning process for him at the moment."

The new Newcastle are still in the learning process too. They have won four matches in a row now, a feat they never achieved under Kenny Dalglish, but they had luck on their side after Shearer's 10th-minute opener. Steve Stone hit the bar, Laurent Charvet cleared off the line and Shay Given weighed in with a string of first-class saves.

"We didn't get what we deserved," Dave Bassett said, with justification. "We'll probably play crap somewhere and win. That's the way it goes."

At least the Forest manager still had a job in football on Saturday night, unlike one of the men in the Dalglish household.

Goals: Shearer 10 (1-0); Shearer pen 88 (2-0).

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Given; Watson (Barton, 25), Dabizas, Charvet, Pearce; Solano (Batty, 87), Lee, Speed, Glass; Ketsbaia (Dalglish, 59), Shearer. Substitutes not used: Albert, Perez (gk).

Nottingham Forest (4-4-2): Beasant; Louis-Jean, Chettle, Armstrong, Rogers; Stone, Quashie (Freedman, 84), Johnson, Bart-Williams (Gray, 63); Shipperley, Darcheville (Harewood, 74). Substitutes not used: Hjelde, Freedman, Crossley (gk).

Referee: D Elleray (Harrow).

Booking: Forest: Louis-Jean.

Man of the match: Given.

Attendance: 36,760.