AFTER the initial excitement of Alan Shearer's magnificent achievement of scoring 200 goals for his hometown club has died down, the grim realisation will remain that a Magpies side costing in excess of £30m struggled past the fifth worst club in the football league to take their place in today's FA Cup fourth round draw.

The boardroom will be full of talk of what to do to mark Shearer's milestone, the city council will no doubt weigh in with their ideas for a 'right and proper' way to commemorate the skipper's achievement and, as Shay Given put it, there'll be a 'few statues flying around'.

But, despite Graeme Souness' protestations that the result was all that mattered, the reality of Saturday is without the greatest goalscorer of his era in their ranks Newcastle would be at best looking at the prospect of a replay at Field Mill a week tomorrow.

Without Shearer Souness would be this morning facing crunch talks with Freddy Shepherd who, in no uncertain terms, demanded the win in his programme notes.

Without Shearer Newcastle's season would be over in January and their fans would have to endure the final four months of the season with only the prospect of solace being a possible win at the Stadium of Light in April.

Without Shearer it would appear to be getting grimmer by the minute.

For periods of the first half Mansfield couldn't care less about Shearer's search for his 200th goal. The Stags, fresh from a battling 0-0 draw at home to Lincoln City, outplayed their Premier League opponents and at half time the shots at goal statistic read Newcastle 5 Mansfield 6.

In the first half the direct running of Adam Rundle, Giles Coke and Gus Uhlenbeek caused coach Dean Saunders to instruct midfielder Lee Clark to adopt a more withdrawn role.

It almost got worse just after the break when Uhlenbeek, a free signing from Wycombe Wanderers, completely bamboozled £8m defender Jean-Alain Boumsong down the right.

The cross was dummied by Allan Russell and former Newcastle trainee Rundle's snapshot was saved smartly low to his right by Given.

Souness' decision to launch a defence of his position this week has obviously had an effect on the players - the result appeared to be to increase the pressure on them tenfold.

Given said: "There's been a lot of negativity about the place and it was important that we stayed focused on the game. Had we won the game 5-0 then people would have said we were expected to win; because we've only won 1-0 maybe we'll get a bit of stick, but we're through to the next round.

"It was a no-win situation, but all we could do was go out there and get the result. We're in the hat for the next round and that's all we could do.

"If you look at the bench today, there were a lot of kids there and that's us down to the bare bones. The treatment table is pretty full at the minute, but we've got all week until the Fulham game and hopefully we can get another few back, but Celestine Babayaro looked injured at the end and Stephen Carr had to come off with a knock, so it's not looking too bright."

The injuries are in many ways Souness' salvation, so two more to his full-backs won't make too much difference. If his skipper, however, joined Michael Owen on the sidelines then he might just as well start clearing his desk.

The onslaught on the Mansfield goal never materialised and veteran goalkeeper Kevin Pressman wasn't called upon in the first half, made a half save from Shearer ten minutes after the break before blocking from substitute Michael Chopra with his backside.

Shearer and Carr both fired over from acute angles and, with a replay looking the likely option, Newcastle produced their best move of the game to open up the Stags defence.

Titus Bramble produced two crunching challenges near the halfway line and the ball ended up with Nolberto Solano via Chopra.

The Peruvian fed Albert Luque's diagonal run across the box and his backheel fell perfectly for Shearer despite Bramble threatening to get in his way.

The captain drove the ball hard and low from eight yards past Pressman's right hand and into the corner of the net.

The fans response was heavily laden with relief rather than joy at Shearer's landmark strike - his 200th in 389 appearances for Newcastle. Jackie Milburn's 200 came in 397 appearance 49 years previously.

Milburn's double century strike, however, wasn't a face saver against a side three leagues below the Magpies.

Souness said: "I was convinced we would win, I knew it would not be easy, we were always under a great deal of pressure because so much is made of the smaller team pulling off a shock so our players could have been nervous and they equipped themselves.

"I have been involved in many cup ties like that and have been fortunate enough to play for a team who won the European Cup every season (Liverpool) and we were still involved in difficult cup ties against smaller clubs and they are not easy."

So here's hoping for Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool in today's draw.

Result: Newcastle United 1, Mansfield Town 0.

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