OBAFEMI MARTINS will be asked to explain the reasons for his late withdrawal from the Newcastle United squad again this morning, but Alan Shearer insists the £10m striker still has an important role to play this season.

Shearer was frustrated after spending the week working on a new system to face Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, only for Martins to pull out on the morning of the match.

The Nigerian, who had trained throughout the week, claimed he had suffered a groin injury overnight and that he was unable to face Stoke in one of the most important fixtures of Newcastle’s season.

Shearer will demand a full explanation this morning before looking for Martins to prove he is ready for the remaining six matches of the relegation run-in.

The Newcastle boss claimed that, contrary to rumours flying around the Britannia Stadium, there was no reason to believe that Martins had come up with the injury because he had slept in.

“He rang up this morning at 11 o’clock and said he’d woken up with a sore groin and was unable to play. We got the doctors and physios to go and have a look at him, and he couldn’t play,” said Shearer.

“After working the last two or three days on a particular system it was disappointing to find out so late that he couldn’t make it. We had to reshuffle the pack a little bit.

“He didn’t sleep in at all, that’s not true. I spoke to him on Saturday morning and asked him. I’ll speak to him again on Monday morning and we’ll have another look at it. Hopefully it’s not too serious.

“We have to believe him. I wasn’t too happy that I got the call at 11 o’clock, particularly after we trained all Thursday and Friday and had massages on Friday evening and there was no sign of it.

“We were meeting just after 11 o’clock, to be honest, so he hasn’t broken any curfews.

“I’m not happy with the situation, to find out so late. But it’s happened and we’re hopeful it’s not going to be too serious because he’s got a big part to play.”

Martins has become the first Newcastle player to test Shearer’s patience since he took over 11 days ago and there are already new rules to adhere to.

The former England striker admitted as much in the build-up to the trip to Stoke and defender Habib Beye has revealed that there is a new hard-line approach to certain things, such as poor time-keeping.

“Every new manager wants to change something. We were in the bottom three for a reason and he has tried to bring more discipline,” said Beye.

“We have a challenge ahead in the next six games and if we can get 18 points that would be perfect. Twelve would also be good. Now we have a higher intensity of training, he wants everyone focused on the challenge.

“You can’t be late, you can’t be below par in training because he knows that is not enough.”

Beye was part of a newlook three-man central defence which did well to restrict Stoke to just one goal scored by former Newcastle defender Abdoulaye Faye inside 33 minutes.

Andy Carroll arrived to nod in the equaliser nine minutes before full-time to give Newcastle the lifeline they needed in their attempts to stay in the Premier League.

Beye feels that in Shearer the Magpies – who are now two points adrift of safety – have a manager with the club’s best interests completely at heart.

He said: “Everyone knows what Alan Shearer has done before. He took this job for the last eight games because he is from the area and he wants to save Newcastle United. If anyone can do that for this club it is him because everyone knows he is a Newcastle legend.

“He does not want to see Newcastle in the Championship and he is full of spirit. We are trying to make sure he achieves that. This was a massive point and now we really believe we can do it.

“It was a massive point for us because we knew Stoke was going to be a very difficult game for us. We showed some good quality, good spirit and to go away with a point is very good for us at this stage.”