A MEETING between Alan Shearer and the club surgeon will today trigger a visit to Freddy Shepherd's office, with Magpies' boss Bobby Robson desperate for cash to bolster his depleted squad.

After a super rearguard performance by a makeshift Newcastle defence in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Villa Park, Robson will this week ask for the St James' Park coffers to be opened, as one injury crisis follows another.

Newcastle began the game without a recognised centre forward, and finished it with Steve Caldwell the club's only fit centre half.

A clearly troubled Robson revealed that although he was not expecting Shearer to require surgery on his tendonitis problem, he did expect him to be out for four weeks.

With the fitness of Carl Cort causing concern, and the £7m man not expected back before mid January, Robson said: "I have to look at bringing someone in.

"I wish I had Cort fit because I've been wanting to give Alan some time off for a while now.

"He's a flogged horse and he's nursing a bad back, hamstring and ankle."

United were forced to reshuffle their pack and the away fans were clearly bemused by the absence of any centre forward on the team sheet.

Before the game kicked-off the Villa PA blasted out David Ginola's website song, Ginola est Magnifique, and the former Magpie favourite threatened to prove the songwriter right.

Greeted by the customary boos from the visiting fans following, Ginola, given a free role, was a constant thorn in the Newcastle defence.

Although the Frenchman appeared to have over-indulged on the filled croissants while out with hamstring problems, he still had the speed of thought to skip away from challenges time and time again.

With Cordone failing to threaten up front Newcastle lacked a cutting edge in front of goal. The blistering pace may have gone, but Shearer's unselfish running and ability to unsettle defenders was clearly missing.

They started poorly, going behind after only four minutes to a Dion Dublin header.

Lee Hendrie was played through by the ever dangerous Paul Merson and although his shot was well saved by Shay Given, the ball ended up at the feet of Ginola. The Frenchman floated over a superb ball and Dublin did the rest.

At this point Newcastle's back three looked as if they'd just met ten minutes before the game - little did they know their problems had only just begun.

On the quarter hour Aaron Hughes was clattered by the double force of Dublin and Hendrie and a stray elbow left him out cold.

Another 15 minutes later Alain Goma limped out with a calf injury forcing Newcastle to convert to a back four with Warren Barton and Caldwell as centre halves.

The move appeared to pay dividends as Newcastle worked their way back into the game and just before the interval a superb piece of skill saw Nolberto Solano, at the centre of all Newcastle's best work, put Kieron Dyer free in the box.

The midfielder looked up and picked out Acuna whose six-yard effort rebounded off the post and to safety.

With Barton now marshalling the back four superbly, Newcastle looked more of a match for Villa in the second half.

Another great tackle by Barton from the on-rushing Gareth Southgate in the 60th minute then appeared to spur Newcastle on, and with a point there for the taking they moved forward with far more purpose.

But with the silky approach failing to create the clearcut chance Newcastle were seeking, the team reverted to route one stuff for the equaliser.

A disputed free kick in the 82nd minute saw the ball hoofed forward.

A flicked header from Gary Speed put the ball into the danger zone and as goalkeeper David James came off his line, Solano coolly lifted the ball over his head into the Villa goal.

The away end erupted and even though Dublin fired a last-minute header just wide of the goal a draw appeared to be the fairest result