BELLAMY FEARS

SIR BOBBY ROBSON: "The injury is totally unrelated to his surgery.

"It's nothing to do with the problems he's had and why he had the operation in the first place. He will be assessed later on today."

CRAIG BELLAMY: "The knee held up well and I had a rough challenge obviously and it tested my leg more than anything.

"If you see it he has been clever, he has won the ball, but it is the follow through that is the problem. I don't really want to talk about that to be honest because I don't want to give Lucas Neill any credit.

"I have strained the medial, but it is fine to be honest because it gave the knee a test. I am happy I stayed on and I felt sharp and played 90 minutes, which pleased me. "I felt good and have trained hard for this. I wanted a full game and looked sharp - and that is the sharpest I have felt for a long time. I am pleased to have scored the goal. I feel like a new player, to be honest.

"The people who were near me before my op knew what pain I was in. It was a big year and I tried to play on, but I did not do myself justice. But I am hoping to stay injury-free from now until the end of the season.

"When you are getting deprived, you can't train, you can't play, you are having operation after operation you are thinking maybe there is life outside football. It is a daunting thought, especially for someone like me because my life is totally football.

"You could see that my energy, my closing down on the ball, is at the level I expected to be. That was my first game in five months, so I am expecting a lot from me from now until the end of the season. Hopefully I will stay away from injury."

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