What a start for Tony Rougier! Scoring the winner three minutes after coming on as a sub on your debut, it's what dreams are made of.

If he can keep doing that for Albion, people will be very happy.

I remember watching him when he was playing up in Scotland for Jimmy Nicholl at Raith Rovers. Jimmy was the one who brought him over from Trinidad and Tobago and he used to tell me what a good player he was.

He hasn't got a very good scoring record but he is an experienced player and he's got power and pace, so I think he could do a job at Albion.

He is only on loan but I think if any player comes into a team where the confidence is high and the players are happy then they can do well.

When I was at Brighton I went on loan to Millwall for two months, so I know it can be difficult to come in and make an immediate impact.

It depends what the rest of the team is like. I was lucky at Millwall because they were really good to me. I went there to try and give a young Teddy Sheringham some experience and the rest of the lads and the fans were fantastic.

It is hard but if you can come in and score the winning goal in your first match it certainly helps you to settle in!

Albion perform confidence trick.

Confidence is everything in football and that is certainly the case at Albion at the moment.

I said a month ago that if they picked up a few good results and a couple of clean sheets then their confidence would come back and that is what has happened.

They have given themselves a really good chance now with three wins on the trot and they are beginning to look like the team they were over the last few years.

Last season they were such a confident team, they were solid at the back, they were scoring for fun and they played as if they were going to win every week.

The first couple of games this season started in the same way but that terrible run of defeats knocked all that confidence out of them and it is very hard to get it back.

Steve Coppell has done brilliantly to turn it around and he has done it in the right way. They have started to score on a regular basis again, they are working hard in midfield and they are looking solid at the back as well so I think the real Brighton is being seen.

They have given themselves a real lifeline by getting out of the bottom three which is so important psychologically. Everyone would settle for that at the end of the season, but who knows, if they can keep this little run going then maybe they can finish higher than that.

Shearer made right decision.

Alan Shearer has proved in the last 12 months that he is still good enough to play for England but I think if he had not have retired he would not be doing so well.

He is definitely still the best target-man in the country and he is the main reason why Newcastle are doing so well.

Bobby Robson has got the balance just right at the club and that is mainly down to Shearer. He uses players like Craig Bellamy and Kieron Dyer to do the running for him and has proved that he has not lost any of his goal scoring instincts.

Retiring from playing for your country is a big decision for any player to make and it is one where you have to let your head rule your heart because you never want to pack it in.

There's all the travelling that you have to do as well as the danger of picking up injuries from playing so often. There is also the family to think about too. You get to the stage where you finish your career and your kids are grown up and you haven't spent as much time as you would have liked to spend with them. I think that is what Shearer wants to make sure doesn't happen to him.

I remember when I stopped playing for Northern Ireland. it was after the 1986 World Cup. We had been beaten by Brazil and the manager at the time wanted to bring in some younger players and build for the future.

Pat Jennings was celebrating his 41st birthday so he wanted to retire anyway and was looking forward to a rest, but I was 32 and knew I could carry on for two or three more years. It's hard to accept and that's the reality of life but after you stop you realise it was the best thing to do as far as playing for your club is concerned.

Shearer still has the hunger and he has the experience that the other players at Newcastle can learn from. I saw them play Beyer Leverkusen in the Champions League in the week and was impressed by how they performed.

A few weeks ago I thought they were out but now they have a good chance of qualifying for the next stage. If they go to Inter Milan and win in a few weeks then they will go through because they have Barcelona in the final game which they will win because Barca are already through.

They are also going well in the league so the future certainly looks very good for them.