FOR the vast majority of Newcastle supporters, any hope of a Happy New Year disappeared with Michael Owen as he hobbled into the White Hart Lane dressing room nursing a broken metatarsal.

With their £16m striker ruled out for the best part of three months, the Toon Army saw in 2006 with a mixture of despondency and dread. For one fan, though, Owen's injury was as much of a blessing as a blow.

Newcastle-born Michael Chopra is as fervent as any follower of the Magpies, having attended the same Gosforth school as United skipper Alan Shearer. But he is also Owen's understudy, a stand-in who has mustered just four senior starts in his five seasons at St James'.

With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, Chopra has done little to convince Graeme Souness he is worthy of a new deal.

Injuries of his own have not helped - the striker missed the first three months of the season after tearing a ligament in his knee - and time is of the essence if he is to extend his stay at the club he has supported since childhood.

So, while Owen's problems are hardly a cause for celebration, they nevertheless offer a timely opportunity. Starting with this afternoon's FA Cup third-round game with Mansfield, it is one Chopra fully intends to embrace.

"When Michael got injured, it was a mixture of emotions," said the 22-year-old, who became the first Asian to play in the Premiership when he made an eight-minute substitute appearance at West Brom on the final day of the 2002-03 season.

"Nobody wants to see anyone get injured and it was particularly sad to see Michael suffer like he did. I've learned so much from being with him in training and, when you're playing with a world-class player, you can't help but take things from his game.

"I'm also a Newcastle fan and I want the club to do well. I'm not just a player - Newcastle has been a part of my life for so long now - and Michael's injury has undoubtedly been a blow.

"We had a lot of injuries anyway and we certainly didn't need another one.

"But in another way, what has happened to Michael creates an opening for me.

"Maybe its harsh to see things that way, but I've been around long enough to know that's just the way football works.

"Hopefully it will give me a few games to show what I can do and, at the moment, that's exactly what I need.

"This is a big chance for me and, with my contract being up at the end of the season, I suppose it could be my last chance to show Newcastle what I can do."

For many, that chance has come at least two years too late. In April, 2002, Sir Bobby Robson promoted a teenage Chopra to the first-team squad that travelled to Derby.

He did not make the final 16 but, in his manager's eyes at least, he was a star in the making.

Sadly, that star has still to sparkle. Despite successful loan spells at Watford, Nottingham Forest and Barnsley, Chopra has been unable to force his way past the likes of Alan Shearer, Craig Bellamy, Shola Ameobi and Lomana Lua Lua to establish himself as a Tyneside regular.

His sporadic first-team displays have hardly set the world alight, but it is difficult not to contrast Chopra's lack of opportunity with the chances afforded to the likes of Charles N'Zogbia, Steven Taylor and Peter Ramage.

A player who was once lavished with the kind of praise that has been heaped on the likes of Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney is now in danger of disappearing without trace.

"I've had runs in the team but, for whatever reason, they've never really been able to last," said Chopra.

"Even when I played against Villa this season, (Albert) Luque was back and Graeme put him straight back in the side and switched Shola up front.

"It's been hard for me, but I have to try to stick at it. Last year, when I was on loan at Barnsley, Newcastle had a bit of a striker crisis.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't even able to come back.

"The same thing is happening this year. The only difference, thankfully, is that the manager can play me.

"I think I can do it at Premiership level but I need a goal. Once I've scored one, there will be a lot more to come.

"Being a striker is all about confidence.

"I believe in my ability but I know I have to make other people believe in it too."

Unless Souness opts to start with Martin Brittain in midfield and Luque in attack, that process will start this afternoon.

Last season, Chopra was on the wrong end of an FA Cup upset when League Two strugglers Northampton knocked his temporary employers, Barnsley, out of the competition at the first-round stage.

Mansfield are hoping to cause an even bigger shock later today but, given everything that has happened this week, Chopra is urging his team-mates to back their manager by securing a spot in round four.

"I think we need to put in a performance for the manager now," he admitted. "He's had a lot of stick lately and he doesn't deserve it.

"Mansfield's players will come here and give it a really good go, they won't dare do anything else in front of 5,000 of their own fans.

"I'm sure they'll be thinking they're playing Newcastle at just the right time.

"A lot has been going on in terms of the injuries and the manager, but all the lads are sticking together.

"We all believe in the manager and believe we can get a good result."

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