Newcastle’s seven-game winless run at the start of the 1999-2000 season came to an end in remarkable fashion as Sir Bobby Robson’s first home game in charge of the club resulted in an 8-0 thrashing of Sheffield Wednesday.

With both sides starting the game with just one point to their name, Wednesday actually had the ball in the net first, but Andy Booth’s strike was ruled out for offside.

Aaron Hughes opened the scoring when he headed home Kieron Dyer’s cross, but it was Alan Shearer who was to be the star of the show as he claimed five goals in a game for the first time in his career.

Shearer’s first success came on the half-hour mark as he flicked home Nolberto Solano’s centre, with the goal proving the start of a 12-minute hat-trick.

Shearer’s second came from the penalty spot after Emerson Thome was adjudged to have been guilty of handball, and he completed his hat-trick before the interval as he converted Dyer’s cross from close range.

Dyer, who was probably Newcastle’s best player, scored a goal of his own shortly after the interval, before a flurry of three more goals in the final 12 minutes completed an incredible afternoon.

Gary Speed claimed the first of them, heading home powerfully from a corner, and Shearer claimed his fourth when he picked up a loose ball and dispatched a powerful shot with three minutes left.

There was still time for the Newcastle skipper to claim his fifth goal, and his side’s eighth, as he rammed home his second penalty of the game after Paul Robinson was brought down on the edge of the area.

After the game, Shearer said: “He (Robson) has already put in a hell of a lot of work. He understands people and he’s got everybody playing with a smile on their face.”

Newcastle: Harper, Barton, Hughes, Goma, Domi (Glass 81), Solano, Lee, Speed, Dyer (Robinson 63), Ketsbaia (McClen 78), Shearer.

Sheff Wed: Pressman, Newsome, Nolan, Thome, Walker, Rudi (Haslam 45), Sonner, Donnelly (Sibon 83), Alexandersson, De Bilde, Booth (Carbone 27).