THE week in which Terry Venables restored some self-belief and

credibility to English football also became a week in which Kevin Keegan

still managed to have the last word.

Within three days of the national team's new coach prompting talk of a

golden era -- talk to be taken at this earliest of stages with a

barrow-load of salt -- Keegan, the original people's choice for the job,

had coaxed out of Newcastle United the most devastating result of the

premier league season.

Three sucessive defeats, a first dressing-room crisis, and then

elimination from the FA Cup had begun to cast a few doubts about

Keegan's abilities as a leader of men and football teams. Victories over

Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday, followed by a 7-1 drubbing of poor

Swindon Town, might just have stifled them for while.

What Saturday's game and Wednesday night's 1-0 victory over Denmark

had in common, apart from a similar exposition of passing and movement,

was one hunched up little striker Graham Taylor decided had passed his

sell-by date. At Wembley, Peter Beardsley, despite playing unexpectedly

wide on the left, showed quite enough touches to merit his return to

international football after two years. At St James's Park he was more

central, in every sense, to success and even finished with a couple of

goals himself.

It was good to hear him giving so much credit to Keegan, who had

wagered on the day of his signing that a fiftieth England cap would

materialise. The player genuinely did not believe it and was, therefore,

all the more charmed when Venables bestowed the honour upon him.

Like all attackers, he would surely love to play every week against

Swindon, who have now conceded an astonishing 80 goals -- 60% more than

any other Premiership side. With nine games to play, they must be

fancied to reach three figures.

Almost equally bizarre is the fact that, even with only four victories

and so many heavy defeats, they are still bottom of the table only on

goal difference. One win in the past three weeks could have left both

Sheffield United and Oldham beneath them and rekindled a light that,

realistically, should have been extinguished some time ago.

If there was any good news at all for Wiltshire at the weekend, it

came with Manchester City's home defeat by Wimbledon, pooping the party

this time for City's new signing, Paul Walsh, from Portsmouth.

Southampton's recovery to draw at home against Sheffield Wednesday

suggested that they will maintain enough momentum from Alan Ball's

arrival to keep clear of the relegation rocks over the next month.

Ipswich's victory at Aston Villa, an unlikely event for all those who

had seen them crumble 5-1 at home to Arsenal the previous week, has

suddenly left the East Anglians looking comparatively healthy, too, at

least in relation to the bottom four and Tottenham, who have played more

games than most and need desperately to start winning.

Spurs were among those kept idle on Saturday by the FA Cup, though not

their own involvement in it, which ended long ago. Their

fellow-strugglers Chelsea and Oldham were still involved, Oldham

achieving what was spoken of, only half in jest, as a shock by beating

first division side Bolton Wanderers, the conquerors in earlier rounds

of Everton, Liverpool, and Arsenal.

Darren Beckford, once of Norwich, ended Bolton's fine run and hopes of

a first semi-final place since the days of Nat Lofthouse.

For Charlton to have won away to Manchester United would also have

been taking the season's long-running FA Cup joke too far. At half-time,

with no goals and Peter Schmeichel having been sent off, a smile was

still playing around the Londoners' lips. Mark Hughes and Andrei

Kanchelskis wiped it off and inspired the bookmakers to cut United to

11-10 for the domestic treble.