NEWCASTLE United fans know all about Lee Bowyer's fighting qualities. A year ago yesterday, the much-maligned midfielder brought disgrace on his club when he traded blows with team-mate Kieron Dyer on the St James' Park turf. It was an image that seemed to encapsulate a career that was spiralling out on control.

On Saturday, that same battling spirit was in evidence again. But, rather than being channelled into a senseless spat with his team-mate, Bowyer's combustibility was directed at dismantling a Tottenham side who still harbour genuine aspirations of a place in the Champions League.

A player who had grown disillusioned with the game seems to have rediscovered the relish that made him one of Europe's most feared midfielders during his halcyon days at Leeds.

After months of hankering after a return to his native London, Bowyer is even speaking of extending his stay at Newcastle. It has taken a while, but perhaps the 29-year-old has finally found something worth fighting for.

"Lee's a player who has had his ups and downs with the club and its managers," said caretaker manager Glenn Roeder. "But the only constant thing about football is change, so why can't he change his mind (about leaving)? Perhaps he will do just that.

"I've heard him say in the last few days that he will see who the new manager is and, if he gets on well with him, he might be persuaded to stay.

"He has certainly reminded us of what he is capable of. He was always on the move from one box to the other and, as Spurs found out, when he's like that, he's very hard to play against."

During the first half of Saturday's game, Bowyer was nigh on impossible to negate. The second-minute surge that ended with him converting Charles N'Zogbia's low cross was just the first of a sequence of lung-bursting runs that ripped the heart out of a Tottenham midfield containing two players - Michael Carrick and Jermaine Jenas - who are regularly cited as England's future and a third - Edgar Davids - who is a hero of Holland's past.

He should have had an 11th-minute penalty when he was tugged back by Davids, his crunching tackle on Carrick led to Shola Ameobi doubling Newcastle's tally and, just five minutes later, he won the spot-kick that enabled Alan Shearer to crown his 300th Premiership appearance for the Magpies with a goal. Even when he was guiding Leeds to European victories over the likes of AC Milan and Lazio, he was not doing quite as much as that.

"Can he get back to that sort of form? I'm sure he wants to and now he has his chance," said Roeder, who was also in charge of Bowyer during the midfielder's ill-fated loan spell at West Ham.

"Scott Parker has glandular fever so Lee will definitely get a chance between now and the end of the season. But we need him to play like he did (on Saturday).

"If you're a midfield player playing against someone with that kind of energy, you're forever tracking his runs and chasing back towards your own goal. It's very hard to deal with someone who runs as much as that."

Tottenham certainly couldn't manage it, although they were also hampered by a similarly resurgent display from the rest of Newcastle's attackers.

Four successive defeats had dampened the optimism that had accompanied Roeder's arrival as caretaker boss, but Saturday's breathless first-half display - unquestionably United's best of the season - once again hinted at brighter times to come.

Bowyer and Emre provided a greater forward momentum in Parker's forced absence, while the touch and guile of both Nolberto Solano and Charles N'Zogbia ensured Newcastle posed a fleet-footed threat from the flanks.

With the enthusiasm catching, even Shearer looked a far more mobile and creative figure than he has done in recent weeks. The ease with which he repeatedly turned both Michael Dawson and Anthony Gardner undermined the predictions of greatness being thrown at Tottenham's youthful defence, and also silenced those who were suggesting the 35-year-old was already winding down. Try telling Shearer there is nothing left to play for in the final six games of his farewell season.

"That was more like it," said a satisfied skipper. "You couldn't tell the difference between fourth and 14th and I think we had a point to prove. The first-half performance was the best we've produced at St James' for a long, long time."

It helped, of course, that after conceding a glut of early goals, Newcastle finally found themselves with an early advantage to defend.

Bowyer's second-minute strike settled the nerves - the quality of N'Zogbia's one-two with the ever-involved Solano meant he could hardly miss once he stole ahead of Dawson - and the home side would have been further ahead had the Londoner not seen his first penalty appeal of the afternoon turned n.

With Newcastle's one-touch football constantly catching the eye, the Magpies threatened to assume an unassailable advantage as they dominated a frenzied opening spell. Predictably enough, though, they conceded from Tottenham's first attack of the game.

Aaron Lennon skipped past Stephen Carr on the left-hand side and Robbie Keane, who went on to hit both the crossbar and a post in a virtuoso attacking display, stooped to convert the simplest of headers from the edge of the six-yard box.

Parity was harsh on the Magpies but, to their credit, they responded immediately. Bowyer's ferocious challenge on Carrick saw the ball spill to Solano and, while Paul Robinson saved the Peruvian's low drive, Ameobi reacted quickest to stab home the rebound. It was the kind of poacher's goal that has tended to be conspicuously absent from Ameobi's attacking arsenal.

Shearer added a third from the penalty spot after Davids had bundled over Bowyer on the half-hour mark and, when Dawson received a second yellow card - both for fouls on Shearer - Newcastle were able to cruise to the final whistle.

Their task might have been more difficult, though, had Jenas not produced one of the misses of the season in the early stages of the second half.

The former Magpies midfielder, who was mercilessly booed throughout, skipped around Shay Given following a mistake from Robbie Elliott, only to steer his two-yard shot into the side netting.

When Jenas left Newcastle last summer, he famously described his time at the club as like "living in a goldfish bowl".

Even with a goldfish's five-second memory, it would be difficult for him to forget a miss like that.

Result: Newcastle 3, Tottenham Hotspur 1.

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