BIRTH OF A LEGEND

Supermac's home debut hat-trick v Reds kicked off his love affair with Toon faithful

- MIKE WALTERS

IT WAS the day the legend of Supermac was born - and a messiah's refrain greeted the hat-trick hero on his home debut against Liverpool.

It was arguably the last time Malcolm Macdonald had the upper hand on Kevin Keegan until Supermac sprinted 100 metres in an Olympian 10.4 seconds on the BBC's Superstars series where Mighty Mouse fell off his bike.

When Newcastle and Liverpool meet again in Sunday's League Cup final, the Toon will have to lay the ghosts of nine consecutive Wembley heartbreaks.

But the Geordie nation will always remember the day, in August 1971, when the No.9 crown passed from 'Wor' Jackie Milburn - even if it left Supermac spark-out and without four front teeth after a collision with Liverpool keeper Ray Clemence.

"I was on the treatment table and Frank Clark was at the end when I came round," Supermac said. "Before games, I was in the habit of having a 10-minute power nap on the physio's table.

"When everyone else was hyper, I went the other way, so when I regained consciousness I said to Frank, I've just had a weird dream that I scored a hat-trick'