ENGLISH FOOTBALL Shearer hits Hat-Trick
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from December 1995.
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Shearer has gone eight games without a goal for England and his Blackburn team has scored only once in five games in the European Champions League. But he fired two inside the first 17 minutes against the Hammers and added the third from the penalty spot in the second half.
On a day when six of the eight Premier League games were tied, Manchester United, which is aiming to regain the title from Rovers, failed to gain a home win over Chelsea to put the pressure on standings leader Newcastle. The Reds were held 1-1 at Old Trafford, Denis Wise firing the Blues ahead and Gary Beckham scoring an equalizer. United still trails Newcastle by four points and the Magpies can stretch that to seven by winning at Wimbledon Sunday.
Third place Arsenal went ahead at fourth place Aston Villa though a header by former Villa player David Platt. But Tobagan forward Dwight Yorke leveled for the home team with his ninth goal of the season.
Liverpool, aiming to avoid four defeats in a row for the first time since 1923, needed Stan Collymore's first league goal since September to secure a 1-1 tie with lowly Southampton at the Dell. Neil Shipperley had fired the Saints ahead seven minutes earlier.
Manchester City's climb away from last place continued with a 1-0 victory at Leeds where Gerry Creaney fired the winner in the second half. City now has gone five games unbeaten and climbed to 15th of the 20 teams.
Nottingham Forest, England's final hope in the UEFA Cup on Tuesday, trailed at next-to-last Bolton until the final minute until defender Colin Cooper moved up to score a last minute equalizer in a 1-1 tie. Fabian DeFreitas netted Wanderers' goal.
Tottenham and Everton both missed their chances in a 0-0 tie at White Hart Lane and Queens Park Rangers and Middlesbrough fought out a 1-1 tie at Loftus Road.
Rangers' Simon Barker missed an early penalty and then gave one away. Although 'Boro's Nick Barmby had the spot kick saved Irish international defender Chris Morris followed up to score from the rebound. That gave the visitor the leads but Rangers' center-back Alan McDonald netted the leveller.
The top three teams in division one all lost at home. Leader Millwall tumbled 2-1 to Watford, second place Norwich was beaten 1-0 by Stoke and Grimsby went down 2-1 to Charlton.
