The expected 'Shearer' factor failed to happen as Newcastle were comfortably beaten 2-0 at St James' Park by Chelsea. Two second half strikes proved enough for The Blues as they comfortably held off Newcastle and closed within one point of Premiership leaders Manchester United.

Frank Lampard broke the deadlock with a 56th minute header, and Florent Malouda wrapped up the win from close range nine minutes later to inflict a third consecutive home defeat on the Magpies.

The Toon remain in the bottom three with relegation now a distinct possibility unless caretaker boss Alan Shearer can motivate the team to perform in the final seven games.

Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink was impressed with the way his side went about their work on a big day in the north east.

"I think we have come here in special circumstances with the coming of Alan Shearer, which gave a lot of articles and talking in recent days,' he explained to the club's official web site.

"We had to confront that because it gives extra energy to a team and the crowd.

"For us it was difficult to make a good game but we talked about playing our game and getting rid of the energy within Newcastle and the stands. The perfect scenario was to score in 10 or 15 minutes. Not having done that we must keep the pace and then you get the public more silent.

"We didn't manage to score - what we did was keep the pace," he reiterated. "Not scoring means if you keep up the pace they might get fatigued and we could score, which we did.

'We are happy to get three points and in the way we played for the good part of the game.

"Now we regret even more we lost our points against Spurs but nevertheless until it's over we keep on fighting and we try to put the pressure on both who are on top of us at the moment. We will see what happens in this weekend," he said.

"We have to keep on winning with home games now and keep the pressure on."

Toon boss Shearer remains upbeat, telling Sky Sports: "There were plenty of positives, one or two negatives as well, but there were plenty of positives from the game.

"Effort-wise, no problem. We have got another six or seven days to work with them now.

"The response from the players over the past two or three days has been great, but there is a lot of hard work to be done.

"We haven't got a lot of time, we know that. But I think we will get there."

"A mistake in the second half has cost us," he added.

"When you go 1-0 down to a team like Chelsea, you are reluctant to try and change it too much and open it up because of the quality they possess.

"You are always liable to the counter-attack and that is what happened (for the second goal)."

Newcastle's record goalscorer also refused to blame referee Rob Styles for failing to spot that Ashley Cole cleared a Michael Owen effort from behind the line with 15 minutes remaining.

"I could quite clearly see from where I was standing that it was in. No, I couldn't really, I'm just getting into the manager's cliche," he joked.

"I think TV replays show it was in. It might have given us a rousing last five or ten minutes. But it is all ifs and buts. We get on with it. It is not his fault we lost."