Over 20 years later, Alan Shearer admits he is still “Haunted” by his penalty miss against Thomas Sorensen

Newcastle legend on Alan Shearer has publicly admitted it still “haunts” him that he missed a last minute penalty against Sunderland in a 2000 Derby Match at St. James’ Park, where the Black Cats triumphed 2-1 against the mags.

Speaking in the context of Harry Kane’s penalty miss against France at the World Cup, which seen England crash out at the Quarter Finals last week, Shearer admitted that such decisive penalty misses can have a lasting effect on a player.

“That penalty miss will hurt Kane for the rest of his life. A day won’t go by without him thinking about it or being reminded about it. It will haunt him.

‘Haunt’ might sound dramatic, but I still wake up thinking about one of my misses.

When I was playing for Newcastle United, I missed a big penalty against Sunderland in similar style, hitting it at Thomas Sorensen, and it still haunts me.”

In that game, Newcastle raced into an early lead against Sunderland through Gary Speed (RIP), before two goals from Don Hutchinson and Niall Quinn turned the tide in the second half.

At the death of the game, the mags were awarded a late penalty which was taken by Alan Shearer. However, Sunderland’s Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen saved it decisively, putting together what became an extremely memorable victory for Sunderland.