*Bellamy-Shearer duet keeps Magpies on song and silences off-key Villa*

Chastened is not a description that one readily reaches for when the name John Gregory is mentioned. But as he tugged nervously on the lapels of his three-piece suit on Saturday, reflecting on his side’s two-bit performance, the Aston Villa manager struck the pose of a man who had benefited from an injection of humbling reality.

Villa remained top of the Premiership until yesterday after their second league defeat but Gregory knows that leadership without authority is an empty threat. Villa had taken top spot via the back door, he implied, and they will leave it that way too, if they continue to play like this. Gregory at least got one thing right while they were there, in forbidding his players to speak about their lofty position.

Villa were outplayed and they will need to regroup. Whether that will be around a couple of new signings was a subject the subdued Gregory talked around. “We weren’t big enough or bold enough,” he said. “It was a poor day.”

Villa had suffered at the feet of a Newcastle United playing the best football of the Bobby Robson era, a display that had even the club historian racking his brains for a comparable effort. Eventually the mid- 90s were recalled.

And there was an element of the throwback production about this, back to the days when the Magpies were The Entertainers under impresario Kevin Keegan. The fun level then was such that Newcastle’s vigorous purpose was often overlooked. Here the divergence was less conspicuous because the beguiling style of United’s three goals was matched by industry and discipline. Only Laurent Robert underperformed and Robson excused him because of a cold.

The other 10, however, more than made up for that. Led by Robert Lee and Gary Speed in midfield - who pulverised Lee Hendrie and George Boateng, Lee looking more deserving of an England recall than Hendrie - there was an equally effective partnership up front in the increasingly tuneful duet of Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy. “The old man and the young man,” joked Shearer. “But this partnership’s got potential. Craig’s pace is a tremendous asset.”

At 22 Bellamy is nine years the junior partner but, as Gregory said: “I knew him when he was up the road at Coventry City. He’s improved from being a good player into a very good player.”

Those who watch Newcastle regularly would say that that improvement has been rapid over the past six to eight weeks. During Newcastle’s midsummer Intertoto Cup run there were a few groans about some of Bellamy’s attempts; now there is only a roar of expectation every time he swoops on to a pass. “As quick as Michael Owen,” said Robson.

In Bellamy’s opening goal there was also a sign of Owen’s finishing ability, an instant half-volley from Robbie Elliott’s tempting chip. It was the second instalment of a personal duel with Peter Schmeichel that the Dane drew despite that goal and Bellamy’s second eight minutes from the end. Embarrassingly for Schmeichel the second went through his legs but in between he denied Bellamy thrice.

Otherwise, as Shearer said, “It could have been six or seven.” He was not wrong. Playing his 400th league game and with his two daughters as mascots, Shearer must at last have felt a sense of vindication. What should have been the best years of his career have been spent at Newcastle but a combination of club turmoil and severe injuries have undermined that time.

But he scored a wondrous volley to mark the occasion and, with Carl Cort and Kieron Dyer to return and Everton’s Thomas Gravesen expected to join this week, possibly facilitating Lee’s transfer to West Ham, Newcastle have the whiff of renewal.

Should the South Shields-born Sir Frank Williams invest in the club as mooted, and last week’s negotiations are only the start of a process, then Geordie thoughts will inevitably turn to a new dawn. Gregory could warn them about those.