MICHAEL OWEN helped lift the pressure on the shoulders of manager Graeme Souness at Ewood Park, and wants to make the Scot feel like he is in charge of the best club in the country.

The £16m man scored his first Premiership goal since May 2004 at Blackburn yesterday and, coupled with strikes from Alan Shearer and Charles N'Zogbia, brought relief around Tyneside.

As fans travelled down the M6 yesterday there was a banner hanging from one bridge claiming 'Souness is Clueless'.

While there was a possibility of Newcastle unthinkably propping up the league table before the first ball had been kicked this weekend, now the players only have eyes on making inroads into the top six.

And Owen believes, providing the Magpies use yesterday's first win of the season as a springboard, there are no better places to manage if the club is doing well.

"Newcastle are a big, big club with a big and passionate support," said Owen, whose near-post header came on 66 minutes. "If things don't go right it's the worst place to be a manager but if things go right it's the best place to be. If we can keep winning it will be the best place to be.

"There's no doubt in my mind I will score the goals that will help us win games and there will be more to come. But Alan Shearer's strike was the most important. It was his goal that opened Blackburn up.

"Alan is not as good as he was a few years ago but is still good enough to be a big, big force in the Premier League. I'm sure we will score goals together."

Shearer had opened the scoring four minutes earlier with a stunning right-foot strike from 20-yards after Lee Clark had rolled the free-kick into his path.

And the 35-year-old striker, finally off the mark at the sixth time of asking in the league, admits the whole dressing room felt the relief at the final whistle.

"We needed three points. We were under massive pressure," said Shearer.

Despite Shearer's age, Souness was always convinced his experienced skipper would eventually find the net and prove his critics wrong.

The Newcastle boss said: "You would be a fool to lose faith in Alan, given his track record. I see him every day and there's no desire missing from him. Goals are like buses, they don't come along and then they all come at once.

"I hope that's the start of a glut for him and for Michael too. Michael needed to get off the mark and for him to get 90 minutes will make him sharper too."

Souness, who has spent £50m since leaving Blackburn and taking over at Newcastle 12 months ago, was looking forward to a happy week with the family - having eased the pressure on him a little this week.

But he will make sure his squad turn their attention to Manchester City at St James' Park on Saturday.

"I look at certain factors since the start and we know where our troubles have come from. Hopefully we are coming out of those," said Souness, who should welcome back many of his injured midfielders next weekend. I will be more pleasant around my family now. But the pressure starts again in training on Monday.

"Secure is not something that goes hand in hand in football management, it's not a word I will ever use."

On his personal victory over Craig Bellamy, who he shook hands with at the final whistle, Souness said: "I don't hold grudges."

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