KEVIN GALLACHER scored the first goal by a Blackburn Rovers striker since Alan Shearer's £15 million single ticket to Tyneside and dismissed all talk of pressure on the attackers who remain behind at Ewood.

"I don't think there's any pressure at all," said the Scot who set Rovers on the road to a convincing win at Cambridge last night after coming back from Euro 96 looking lean and hungry for success.

"It's up to us. We know we have the ability to do what Alan did. The fact is that he has gone now and we have to produce it.

"It's a great challenge and if someone can take on 35 goals a season it will be brilliant for us."

Gallacher linked up with Paul Warhurst as the initial strike force at the Abbey Stadium last night, before a groin strain brought Niklas Gudmundsson into the attack.

The way manager Ray Harford has swopped his strike pairings suggests that it could yet be some time before we have a real clue as to which members of the present staff will feature in those key roles against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday week.

But there is no doubt that Gallacher is up and ready for the challenge.

He certainly looked it last night with an effervescent performance crowned by a typical close-range goal.

"It's like the second half of the season for me," said the striker, who had more injury problems in the first half of last winter's campaign.

"They made it hard for us but we had a lot of chances. We just looked as though we needed a bit of shooting practice at one stage.

"But we kept going and, after the first goal, we settled down then got a couple more.

"Last year, I was still coming back from injury. It's different for me this year.

"I have been away with the European Championships, I have kept myself fit and it's just a matter of getting that little bit stronger and toning up.

"Pre-season has been very hard and now the games are coming thick and fast, we just have to enjoy it."

Rovers were due in this afternoon for another hard training session before finalising their squad for the trip to Holland.

Several players have picked up the usual crop of injuries from the pre-season build-up and they will all be assessed before the four-day trip to play Vitesse Arnhem and Seville in a mini-tournament tomorrow night and Volendam on Friday.

Chris Sutton, who will have to see a specialist about his damaged ankle, is clearly out of the reckoning, but all the others could be in the frame.

Gary Croft, Rovers' deadline signing from Grimsby last season, played his first full game for the senior team last night and came through quite well.

He played at left back, enabling Jeff Kenna to fill his favoured role on the other flank.

Manager Ray Harford is expected to continue to change things round, saying: "Our aim is to have as many senior players as possible fit and ready for the first League game.

"I might take a couple of the younger players to Holland, depending on the injury situation.

"The experience of going on the trip would not do them any harm, but we'll know more later today."

ALAN Shearer's £15million arrival on Tyneside today is a "business decision" Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall believes he had to take.

With the world of football still reeling from the record-breaking transfer, Hall revealed today: "I would have liked to have got him cheaper, but it's a business decision and the right one in my view."

The England striker will be revealed to an adoring Geordie public at a press conference. at St James' Park this afternoon, and the millionaire chairman laughs off the accusation that Shearer could prove a costly gamble to his Newcastle empire.

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