Shearer paid tribute to Souness

"I'm a very happy man tonight," said the Magpies number nine, who grabbed his 201st goal for the club.

"I know what Jackie means and meant to the people. I can now sleep easy that the pressure has gone."

He said the goal was secondary to Newcastle ending a poor run - "anything else would have been a disaster".

Shearer joked about the missed opportunity that stopped him breaking the record last week in the FA Cup fourth round game against Cheltenham.

"I missed the one at Cheltenham on purpose last week, so I could score at home this week," he joked.

Shearer wrote his name into the record books in the second-half of Newcastle's encounter against fellow Premiership strugglers Portsmouth.

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The former England international picked up a clever backheel inside the area from strike partner Shola Ameobi, and rifled his shot between the legs of goalkeeper Dean Kiely.

Shearer also paid tribute to former manager Graeme Souness, who was sacked this week and replaced on a temporary basis by Glenn Roeder.

"The goal is a big bonus, but the important thing was three points because we badly needed them," added Shearer.

"Anything else would have been a disaster for us - we'd have been in serious trouble.

"To be fair to Glenn, he pointed out before the match that defeat was unthinkable. The crowd played their part, they were with us all the way."

He added: "I wish Graeme was here to see it because whatever anyone thinks of him, he's an honest, decent and genuine man. It just didn't work out for him here because of the injury situation.

"We had to respond in the right way against Portsmouth, and thankfully we did that.

"People will turn around and say: 'Why couldn't Newcastle perform like that under Souness?'. I can't give an answer to that."