A LITTLE over four years ago Paul Robinson was handed his big chance. The problem was that his gain was at the expense of a certain Alan Shearer at Newcastle United.

It was Tyne-Wear derby night at St James' Park on August 25, 1999, and manager Ruud Gullit had named the messianic Shearer on the substitutes bench. That paved the way for the bright, young talent of Robinson to grasp his opportunity but the problem was he failed to take it.

Sunderland won 2-1 and, after that fateful, rain-sodden night, Gullit was soon handed his P45 and Robinson was not far behind the Dutchman through the exit doors.

Perhaps Robinson was always on a hiding to nothing. After all, he was an avid Sunderland fan playing in the world-famous black and white shirt of the club's arch-rivals.

And, while many would have tried to keep that particular allegiance under wraps, the Seaburn lad was always honest enough to tell it how it was.

Even in the match programme ahead of that now infamous fixture, Robinson admitted he was hoping not to score in an encounter which ultimately shaped the rest of his career for the worse.

"It would hurt me if I scored against Sunderland," said the 20-year-old at the time, who was replaced by Duncan Ferguson after an ineffective 57 minutes.

"And, hand on heart, I love Sunderland to bits but Newcastle pay my wages and I give 110 per cent for them all of the time. I will try to score but it would hurt me if I did and if I did score I wouldn't celebrate, even though I would be happy.

"I've supported them since I was six, along with all of my friends and family."

Now, though, Robinson is attempting to steer his career back on track at Hartlepool United and he is not doing a bad job.

Nine goals for the Division Two outfit, the highest tally he has recorded in one season, have helped him to create a name for himself all over again - but this time for the right reasons.

And today, in another weird twist of fate, Robinson gets to take on the club he has followed most of his life, for the first time since being preferred to Shearer, in an exciting FA Cup third round tie.

Robinson, whose career started at Darlington, will not be feeling the same pressure when he takes on Sunderland this time around, with Shearer and Newcastle hundreds of miles away at Southampton.

"The last time I played Sunderland it was under weird circumstances," said Robinson, who never started a game under Gullit's sucessor Sir Bobby Robson.

"This time there is no Newcastle connection and I haven't got my place at the expense of any big names, so hopefully I will be in the side and I will get a goal.

"It gets a bit annoying when I'm always remembered as the man who kept Alan Shearer out because I played well in the Wimbledon game before that match and I deserved my place.

"There was also Silvio Maric up front that night, so it could have been him keeping Shearer out, not me. Instead, because I was the youngest lad there, I got blamed for it.

"I felt bad after that game because we lost and then Gullit went. Then I heard and read everything that was said afterwards and in the back of my mind I wondered what would have happened had Shearer played. But you have to put those sort of things behind you."

A £1.5m move in the summer of 2000 to Wimbledon finally brought to an end his Newcastle nightmare.

But Dons boss Terry Burton - the man who sealed the deal - only handed him one start, and that came in the League Cup.

Spells at Blackpool, Carlisle, Grimsby, Dundee United and Burnley followed before he finally sealed the move back to the North-East last July with Hartlepool.

And he admits that, given the option, he would never leave the region again to ply his trade in London.

"It was a nightmare at Wimbledon. When I went there it just didn't work out and I was loaned out to a few clubs," said Robinson. "I fell out with the manager in the first two or three weeks I was there - and he was the man who bought me.

"My family were miles away and I could never get home.

"Then when I did get home, I would get settled for the weekend and then I would have to drive back down to London. From day one I didn't enjoy it and it didn't help me and it didn't help the club. In my six or seven games we hadn't scored a goal and he had spent X amount of money on me and he never gave me a chance.

"I went to see him and he actually said to me that he thought I was not the player he thought I was when he bought me!

"I couldn't understand that. If somebody spends a lot of money on a player then you expect them to go and watch them at least. We didn't get on from then on."

Time is a great healer, though, and Robinson is making the most of a new lease of life handed to him by Pool boss Neale Cooper.

The striker's family - mother Val, father Derek and brothers Chris and Philip - will all be at the Stadium of Light this afternoon hoping Paul can score for the blue and whites in the midst of a red and white victory.

If he does it will be only the second goal of his career in the FA Cup.

The first was for Darlington in November 1997, when the Quakers drew 3-3 with Solihull Borough before going through 4-2 on penalties.

But Robinson insists this is 'probably' the biggest game of his career and after helping Pool, backed by the largest travelling away support at the Stadium of Light in its six-year existence, to progress he is hoping Mick McCarthy can steer the Black Cats back up into the Premiership.

"I'm delighted that Sunderland have come out of the Christmas period with maximum points but I hope they don't win on Saturday, although I do hope they get into the Premiership this season," said Robinson, who used to idolise Sunderland legend Marco Gabbiadini, who is now at Pool but misses out today through injury.

"I once played there with Newcastle reserves when there were 14,000 fans. It was 1-1 that day and it was a good atmosphere, so for us to take 9,000 or so up there alone should be nice. "It would be the biggest moment of my life to score the winner. I don't know what I will do if it does go in, but the main thing is that we win. It will be massive for the club, both financially and everything else."