The right-winger supplied two goals in a dazzling five-minute spell and only the woodwork prevented a third. The cross he whipped in from the right, after a short corner by Stephen Glass, was an invitation for Dabizas to head his third goal of the season and the Greek defender duly obliged as he soared above the Derby defence on the six-yard line. The Bald Eagle returned to the Magpies’ nest yesterday and he might have enjoyed a happy return on the occasion of his 58th birthday had Dean Sturridge not wasted the gift of a chance presented to him by Nikolaos Dabizas in the fourth minute.It was not Smith’s day on the pitch as his Rams took a first-half battering. Steve Watson has already been shunted out of St James’ Park, possibly to make way for Christian Ziege, whom Gullit hopes to prise from Milan. The Newcastle manager has yet to enter the transfer market but can expect a little more spending money than the pounds 1.4m Jim Smith was granted in the three years he spent in charge at Newcastle. Newcastle may be far from the trophy-winning material the pounds 15m man wants to see at St James’ Park, as their less than sparkling second-half confirmed yesterday, but in the 23-year-old Solano he has a winger capable of supplying him with goalscoring ammunition.Solano, signed by Dalglish for pounds 1.2m, can certainly feel safe from the “battering ram” Gullit has promised to take to his team.

But the first-half trickery the South American conjured was altogether too hot for Derby to handle. It also warmed the cockles of the Toon Army on a bitterly cold Tyneside afternoon. And it may have given Shearer food for thought as he ponders his future at club level. Nolberto Solano, nurtured at Boca Juniors alongside Diego Maradona, announced his arrival as a player of substance on the Premiership stage, setting up the two goals that took his team to victory with some vintage wing-play for Ruud Gullit’s Magpies.Solano, Kenny Dalglish’s last signing for Newcastle, is not quite the finished article. Twice in the second half he was guilty of freezing when presented with clear scoring chances himself in front of the Derby goal. The man who may, or may not, have taken exception to the managerial hand of Hodd had a quiet game as Newcastle were guided to victory by a Peruvian whose former mentor was allegedly helped by the hand of God.

Newcastle United 2

Dabizas 13, Glass 17
Derby County 1Burton 73Attendance: 36,750WHATEVER Alan Shearer said to Glenn Hoddle in the aftermath of the national team’s midweek malaise, the statement made with the loudest clarity on the pitch at St James’ Park yesterday did not come from the England captain. He birdied the seventh and eighth from eight feet and then produced the masterstroke of holing from outside Westwood for another at the tenth. His tee shot had finished 30 feet away and though Westwood was only 15 feet away, the putt must have suddenly looked much further and the match out of sight.Masterful O’Meara, page 3. Neither player had managed to catch fire like O’Meara – Woods was round in 71 and Westwood level par – but the encounter was intriguing. The American won the first in the afternoon with a par but bogeyed the third again.With the margin only one hole, Woods changed the complexion of the match irrevocably by winning four holes out of six from the seventh.