Boss instructs Dyer to add more goals to his repertoire

Dyer hit only his third of the campaign yesterday to ensure Newcastle's mini-revival continued at St James' Park as they registered their fourth win in a row against Bolton.

Dyer volleyed home the 64th minute winner after Stelios Giannakopoulos had cancelled out Lee Bowyer's 35th minute opener before the break.

Dyer, in his sixth season at the club, has never hit more than six goals in one campaign and Souness has called on his ex-Liverpool team-mate Terry McDermott to assist the £6m player.

The Magpies boss is already seeing results since McDermott returned to the club's coaching staff last month.

"A ten-goal a season man is what Dyer has to become," said Souness, whose side made it just one defeat in 2005 with yesterday's win.

"All the successful teams that win things have midfield players who are all getting near double figures every year.

"That's an obvious criticism of Kieron - the only criticism.

"I would think if there's any ex-player that can teach him about scoring goals from midfield then Terry McDermott is that man.

"He was nearly a 20-goal a season man from midfield but then he had some very good players playing with him."

Despite his goal Dyer missed an easier chance in the first half when a cross from Titus Bramble found him unmarked six yards out but his header was weak and straight at Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Souness said: "His heading is not his strongest point but he'll get goals from that position I'm sure he will.

"He's got all the attributes to play there. He's extremely athletic - running for him is not difficult. He just floats across the top of the grass.

"He's like (Jermaine) Jenas and (Lee) Bowyer in that. Their feet hardly touch the ground. I thought he was excellent again and the goal rounds it off.

"The more he plays there, the more he's understanding the position.

"I've no complaints with Kieron Dyer. He's a cheeky little so and so and he's mischievous. He's good to work with."

Early on in his reign as Newcastle boss Souness was forced to take Dyer to a central Newcastle police station after he was pictured urinating in the street.

Since then, however, the 51-year-old Scot has had no problems with the player whom he says has again been accepted by the Tyneside crowd.

Dyer angered many fans when he refused to play on the right of midfield in the opening day fixture at Middlesbrough but, according to Souness, he wasn't the first player to do that during Sir Bobby Robson's reign.

"We've had one unscheduled trip to a place I didn't want to go (police station) and I'm sure he didn't want to go. Other than that he's not been a problem.

"Our crowd have accepted him back into the fold because he's a hard working player. If he works as hard as that then he should be accepted back.

"He's still a young man and he knows he made a mistake. But he picked the bill up for someone else when he refused to play on the right hand side."

And in a sideways dig at Craig Bellamy, Souness added: "He wasn't the first one at this club to refuse to play on the right hand side for the previous manager."

Souness was delighted with yesterday's win and the club's run of form.

He said: "We've had a good ten days. We were slow out of the blocks but that was to be expected after we had a tough game on Thursday night (against Heerenveen).

"We needed 45 minutes to get our legs going. We got that out of our system and had them penned back in their own half after the break."

The game hinged on a incident just into the second half when Fernando Hierro tripped Dyer as he closed in on goal. It appeared a clear sending off to many but not to Souness.

Souness said: "Hierro found himself in a difficult situation and he had to make a decision in a split second.

"He wasn't the last man and he wasn't inside the box so it wasn't a penalty and the referee got it right."

l Patrick Kluivert is expected to be fit for Saturday's game against Liverpool at St James' Park after missing out yesterday with a muscle strain.