Given Misses Start Of Season

He was forced off with the problem in the 38th minute of the match and manager Sam Allardyce confirmed last night the Republic of Ireland international will be forced to miss the curtain-raiser at Bolton Wanderers this weekend.

The 31-year-old has an amazing record as a Newcastle player, and from missing the home fixture with Coventry City back in January 2000 he didn't miss a single Premiership game until the birth of his child when Steve Harper replaced him for the Fulham game at St James' in November 2004.

But the ex-Blackburn star has been troubled by injury problems ever since he suffered an horrific stomach injury when he clashed with Marlon Harewood at Upton Park last September.

Sam Allardyce: "He has gone to see a specialist in London because we want to make sure just how much damage has been done.

"He has been for a scan and it doesn't look serious, it's just a slight strain. At the moment we only expect him to be out for a couple of weeks, but we won't take any risks.

 

"We're happy with the initial diagnosis, but we have just sent him away to get a second opinion. He has had a few injuries of this kind recently and we want to make certain there are not going to be any side effects down the line.

"It doesn't look as though it is going to keep him out for very long, so we won't look to bring in another goalkeeper as cover at this stage.

"If the situation has changed after he has seen the specialist, and he is going to be missing for longer than we first thought, we might have to bring another keeper into the squad because we'll be a bit short.

"We are very fortunate to have two excellent goalkeepers here and we have no problem at all with playing Steve at the weekend. He has already shown that he is more than just an able deputy for Shay."