52 mins: Shearer close range finish 2-0

86 mins: Hamann and Shearer set up Temuri Ketsbaia 3-0

Full time: Newcastle 3 Bradford 0

Assistant boss Steve Clarke handled press duties and commented:

"The scoreline flattered us a little bit. We had our fair share of luck. 

"Bradford had quite a few chances when the scores were level. If they had taken one of them it might have been a different story.

"Alan Shearer got one chance in the match and went through and stuck it in the net - that's the difference between the two divisions."

Paul Jewell:

To follow
 

BBC match report:

Newcastle kept their season alive with a 3-0 victory over Bradford City at St James' Park on Saturday.

German Dietmar Hamann put the Premiership side ahead 12 minutes from the break against the run of play, but it was Alan Shearer's 52nd-minute strike which broke City's hearts.

A late strike from Georgian Temuri Ketsbaia confirmed the victory as Newcastle booked their place in the last 16.

Bradford started strongly with Peter Beagrie running well down the left and causing the home side continuing problems.

Newcastle, on the other hand, looked to be struggling - failing to gain any consistent midfield possession.

The game's first chance came to Bradford, who seemed to be pushing harder for the opening score. after only five minutes Robbie Blake soared down the right flank to find himself with only the keeper to beat.

And he may well have found the net had he not hesitated - allowing Danny Griffin and Laurent Charvet to close him down.

It was a fine start from the visitors, however, with Newcastle clearly on the back foot.

Looking by far the confident side, Bradford, opened up space in the Newcastle defence - so much so that it looked only a matter of time before the visitor's went ahead.

With so little ball, Newcastle clearly looked shocked at the prospect of another home defeat. And despite a superb swerving strike - pushed just over the post by Gary Walsh from Nolberto Solano, the visitors looked to be running away with the game.

On 25 minutes, Blake fed Lee Mills who was brought down by Given in what clearly looked like a penalty - to everyone else except the referee, that is, who instead awarded a corner. It was another chance for the visitors - but again they had failed to make it count.

And when Newcastle secured their first real chance of the half 12 minutes before the break you could sense the growing disappointment from the Bradford players.

Shearer's flick to Temuri Ketsbaia had split the Bradford defence wide-open. The Georgian's close-range effort was well saved by Walsh, but Hamann followed up to sidefoot the loose ball home for his first goal for the club.

It clearly spurred the home side on. And when Hamann touched the ball passed three Bradford bodies to fire a low ball towards the bottom left corner of the net only Walsh's fingers managed to keep the ball out.

The game was far from over for Bradford, however, and they again started well after the break.

But when Beagrie missed another clear chance in front of an open goal - punting it wide of the right post - it seemed that Bradford were simply not destined to win.

Seconds later, it looked even more unlikely when Shearer made it 2-0, touching the ball into the net after a superb header from Gary Brady.

The goal clearly helped Newcastle to relax. Speed and Brady both began to find space for themselves and Bradford's heads dropped slightly in the knowledge they had, perhaps, thrown it all away.

Nevertheless, if Bradford had given up - no-one had told Beagrie and Blake who continued to shape a superb partnership up front.

Newcastle grew in confidence as the game wore on, and substitute Stephen Glass - on at half-time for Solano - went close on 58 minutes when he latched on to Hamann's through ball and beat full-back Stephen Wright before firing across the face of goal.

Jewell went for broke eight minutes later when he replaced Wright with former Arsenal striker Isiah Rankin, but it was Moore who almost gave his side a lifeline on 77 minutes.

The big defender found a yard of space inside the box, but Given flew from his line to block his effort and full-back Didier Domi was on hand to clear the immediate danger.

Garry Brady could have wrapped things up in style five minutes from time, but he fired high over from Glass' cross.

But Ketsbaia made no such mistake four minutes from timer as he turned inside Westwood to shoot past Walsh into the far corner.

Guardian match report:

For the moment the lid is still on - just. But with every passing moment at St James' Park another jarring ingredient is added to a recipe already featuring spite, jealousy, xenophobia and outright loathing. That some of those doing the most frantic stirring possess skyscraper egos means that the heat is being turned up notch by notch. The lid may still be on but that will count for little if the pot melts.

It is said that the senior British players at Newcastle United, Alan Shearer and the club captain Robert Lee, are in direct opposition to the manager Ruud Gullit and the style of his regime. Those who say it are right: Shearer and Lee are barely on speaking terms with Gullit. Lee has missed the last two games - "an Achilles injury" - but he is due to play in Peter Beardsley's testimonial on Wednesday night.

There have been rows so serious over the past week that Shearer and Lee believe they will have to leave - unless Gullit goes first, voluntarily or otherwise. Some manifestation of player rebellion is a real prospect this week, although the disgruntled players lack the allies of a few months ago; David Batty, Steve Watson and Keith Gillespie, who would have been candidates to join a revolt, have all been sold by Gullit.

Last week Shearer had an argument with Gullit on the training ground. The spat may or may not have been caused by a confrontation Gullit had with Paul Dalglish, also last week, which appears to have focused on Gullit's annoyance at Paul's father Kenny, the Dutchman's predecessor. The senior players at Newcastle were incensed by what they perceived as Gullit's treatment of Dalglish Jnr. Dalglish was not even on the bench on Saturday.

It is difficult to assess the degree of support within the dressing-room for Gullit but the Paul Dalglish incident stoked the sense of injustice felt by those players with a grievance against the manager, a conflict that stems from what they see as Gullit's aloof personal manner, and from him repeatedly saying "I inherited a relegation team" and the like and from his persistent questioning of the quality of player at his disposal. That also contrasts sharply with Kenny Dalglish's quip-a-minute dressing-room routine - as one Newcastle player put it, "There is no banter any more" - and with Dalglish's principle of never criticising his players in public.

As if to emphasise the dislocation in relationship, before kick-off here Shearer and Gullit passed each other on the touchline without exchanging words. They stared through each other. After the game Gullit declined to talk, preferring to return to his sick bed to nurse a cold. Shearer said nothing either. The directors make no comment. This part of the fixture is void.

It seems most unlikely that into it will run a gasping chairman of a rival club, English, Italian or Spanish, saying, "Here's £12 million, now give us Shearer." That would be one solution; but as he wanders the grounds of England waiting for some decent ammunition, Shearer cuts an increasingly desolate figure whom many would not buy at the asking price.

He could state that he is still scoring at a decent ratio; this was his 10th goal in 23 starts this season, but significantly it was his only chance of the game. That lack of supply is the major reason why he has not scored in the Premiership since September 26 against Nottingham Forest.

This goal came in the 52nd minute, made the scoreline 2-0 and ensured Newcastle progressed. However, had Bradford City's gifted young forward Robbie Blake scored at the other end only 20 seconds earlier the result might have been different.

Indeed Bradford could argue that a Blake goal then should have been their fourth or fifth. A Stuart McCall header just before half-time had hit the post, Gareth Whalley and Lee Mills had both missed first-half openings with only Shay Given to beat, and there was Given's trip on Jamie Lawrence in the 28th minute which looked a certain penalty but Paul Durkin waved play on.

Six minutes later good work by Shearer and Temuri Ketsbaia had produced Gary Walsh's first save of the match but the ball rebounded off him and Dietmar Hamann rolled in Newcastle's opener. Shearer's goal was followed by a third from Ketsbaia near the end. Bradford were beaten but had shown enough to explain their second place in the First Division.

Kevin Keegan will return to St James' for the Beardsley testimonial. It will be his first visit since two years ago when he resigned as Newcastle's manager, and he will find the place, the players and the joyless atmosphere unrecognisable.

Biffa