The death of The Dell cannot come soon enough for Newcastle's former Southampton striker Alan Shearer who will be happy to see the back of the ground where he began his career.

The stadium will be demolished at the end of the season as the Saints move to a 32,000 capacity home in the St Mary's area of the city where they were first formed.

And although Shearer still has a lot of affection for Southampton and the stadium where he scored a hat-trick on his league debut against Arsenal, he has not enjoyed his return visits.

In nine games since signing for Blackburn in 1992 he has picked up just three draws and now six defeats. And his last chance to pick up three points at the Dell disappeared with Newcastle's 2-0 defeat on Saturday.

He joked: "The sooner Saints move the better! I have had a lot of good times on this ground - but obviously not with Blackburn or Newcastle.

"It will be interesting to see if it is the same when they move to their new ground next season. The Dell has always been a difficult place to come. We have not got a good record here but I don't think it was a psychological thing with us.

"We played well in the first half and were quite pleased at half-time because we had just started to step it up.

"They caused us problems early on then there was a bit in the middle where it was quite even and for 15 minutes before the interval I felt we were the better side.

"Their keeper made a good save from my header and Jason Dodd made a fortunate block but we felt we could go on and win from there.

"But our second-half performance did not warrant anything. The goal straight after the break rocked us and we were not able to pick ourselves up and gave another silly goal away.

"We did not have the killer instinct and we did not create much after the interval."

Manager Bobby Robson was suffering from flu and had lost his voice, probably to the relief of the players after such a disappointing display.

So head coach Mick Wadsworth stood in and he was brutally honest in his assessment. He said: "The first half was terrific by both teams. It was nip and tuck with nothing in it but I have to admit that after the break Southampton were a bit ahead of us and came out worthy winners.

"Their early goal knocked us back rather than giving us a kick up the pants. They defended their box much better than we did and delivered better crosses."

The Magpies were missing injured trio Rob Lee, Stephen Glass and Carl Cort but hope they get a weekend return.

Wadsworth added: "All three were just a bit short. Their injuries are all strains and soft tissue problems and there is a danger of making a mess of it if they came back too early. "Carl Cort though is very positive about his hamstring and we are hopeful he will be back in full-time training today. We need him back, that's for sure."