Chelsea cleared any doubts inside Alan Shearer's mind regarding the size of his mission to rescue Newcastle United from the peril of Premier League relegation with a 2-0 victory at St James' Park.
The ex-Magpies and England captain answered an SOS call from his flailing hometown club on Wednesday, but Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda ensured his eight-game managerial tenure opened in defeat in front of a disappointed 52,000 sell-out.
With Joe Kinnear convalescing from a triple heart bypass, Shearer, the top goalscorer in Newcastle history, arrived at the club's Benton training ground on Thursday morning preaching the benefits of man management and rebuilding confidence.
And his impact was evident from the first blast of referee Rob Styles' whistle, but Chelsea silenced supporters in a tight opening half and took the lead 11 minutes after the interval when Lampard headed in following an error from Fabricio Coloccini.
Chelsea arrived with eyes still on the title and Guus Hiddink's side reinforced their aspirations in the 65th minute as Malouda latched onto a pass from the excellent Lampard to slot a second for the visitors.
Replays demonstrated that Newcastle should have had a consolation when a deflected Michael Owen effort was cleared from behind the line by Ashley Cole with 15 minutes remaining as the Tyneside party ended in disappointment.
Newcastle now have just seven games in which to save themselves from relegation, the first of them at fellow strugglers Stoke next weekend.
The Magpies knew they would struggle to match Hiddink's men for innate skill and fluency, and decided to make up for that with effort and sheer bloody-mindedness.
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