The brothers are walking towards the boot room when it begins. "Two Ameobis, there's only two Ameobis," sings Kevin Nolan in broad scouse. Newcastle United's captain pauses, briefly, to advise the younger of the pair to remove a hoodie but soon resumes a serenade that has echoed around the club all week.

Last Sunday, with just under 10 minutes remaining at Stamford Bridge, Sammy Ameobi ran on as a tricky, pacy, debut-making substitute, joining Shola, his elder brother, in Alan Pardew's attack. Even better, by distracting Chelsea's Ashley Cole, the newcomer helped create Steven Taylor's last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw. "It was something we'd always hoped would happen," Shola, at 29 the senior Ameobi by 10 years, says. "But it was still pretty surreal having Sammy on the pitch."

The two are sitting side by side in a training ground office describing the thrill of becoming the first brothers to play together in a league game for Newcastle since Ted and George Robledo in 1952. Sammy had been dreaming of Sunday ever since September 2000, when he watched Shola memorably square up to Dennis Wise and stand up to Marcel Desailly while making his senior bow, also against Chelsea, at St James' Park.

"I was in year four at school when I saw Shola's debut," he says. "And from that moment there was no going back for me. I know it's sensible to have an alternative plan but after that, there was never anything else I wanted to do apart from being a footballer."

Kickabouts in the back garden assumed a serious hue. "Sammy's got a lot of natural ability and he was constantly running rings around me," Shola says. "I think it all started inside, though. We were always kicking absolutely anything that was round all around the house, not just us two but our brother and three sisters as well."

The other brother and fellow striker, the 22-year-old Tomi Ameobi, later earned contracts at Newcastle and Leeds United and is now playing in Iceland where, not to be outdone, he scored for BI/Bolungarvik last weekend. "Sunday was a good day for the Ameobi household," Shola says.

It also proved to be one of conflicting interests for the boys' parents, John and Margaret, particularly as the former is pastor of the Apostolic church in Newcastle's Spital Tongues area. "Being a pastor my dad's got other obligations on Sundays but, for once, it was probably a case of him and mum getting out of church as quickly as possible and catching the end of the Chelsea game," Shola says. "They raced home."

He and Sammy are committed Christians and laugh knowingly when asked about their faith's compatibility with life as a Premier League footballer. "It's hard for any Christian in a secular world not to conform to the pressures to do things other people are doing," says Shola, who is married with a young daughter. "That's one of the things I've been dealing with, or trying to deal with, most of my career. It's never easy when you try and live a certain way. Footballers tend to follow certain trends and it's about going against that and living your life how you want to."

Such determined conviction kept him off the front pages during those days when the assorted scrapes in which then team-mates became involved imbued Newcastle with an infamously bacchanalian aura. "I don't know if that was down to my faith or sheer luck," Shola says, smiling. "But I made a conscious decision to try and stay out of trouble. It's not that I haven't made mistakes in the past but I have tried to do the right things. Just because you play football doesn't mean you can do whatever you want."

That is something he is impressing on his little brother. "Shola keeps an eye on me to make sure I'm on the right track," Sammy says. "If I'm going in the wrong direction he'll turn me round."

Spinning defenders has been second nature to Shola during a season when many erstwhile critics have been confounded by his numerous stellar performances. A highly skilful, often unorthodox striker willing to attempt things others leave behind on the training ground, he is cherished by Pardew. Conscious of his bravery in playing with a fractured cheekbone protected by a bespoke face mask, Newcastle's manager has the team's No23 to thank for ensuring that Andy Carroll's £35m January transfer to Liverpool did not prove to be quite as damaging as initially feared.

Like the enviably well-read Shola, Sammy possesses 11 GCSEs and is similarly quick-footed but, at 6ft 3in, he stands an inch taller and can also operate on the left wing. "I'm more of a technical player," he says. "I like to get on the ball and run at defenders." Peter Beardsley is suitably impressed. "We've no doubt about Sammy's talent," Newcastle's reserve-team coach says. "He can be fantastic."

That is not necessarily the word the five-year-old Shola would have used to describe England when the Ameobis emigrated from Zaria in northern Nigeria and his father embarked on a PhD in agriculture at Newcastle University. Back then black people on Tyneside were suspiciously viewed rarities while National Front activists could still be spotted outside St James' Park on match days.

"It was tough when we first arrived," Shola says. "But things have changed. There's big differences in Newcastle, all for the better. People are accepted for who they are now. It means Sammy sees things from a different angle to me; it's great for him to have been able to grow up in the north-east the way it is now."

If Shola's infancy in Zaria remains a hazy memory – "I've been back but not that often" – the former England Under-21 striker seems poised for a reconnection with his roots after switching footballing allegiance to Nigeria and being placed on standby for this summer's friendlies against Argentina and Ethiopia. With Sammy having already appeared for the Super Eagles Under-20s, the prospect of two Ameobis forming an international double act cannot be discounted.

It is something they would never have dared contemplate five years ago, when Shola underwent career-saving hip surgery in Colorado. "It was do or die, my last chance," he says. "After the operation it took a year to get right. I had to learn to run all over again but I'm really thankful God has given me another opportunity. Every time I go on the pitch now I know I've been given a second chance to do what I love."

Outside, a whirr of helicopter blades signals Mike Ashley's imminent landing on the training pitch. It is time for the pair to pull on their boots and show Newcastle's owner precisely why Pardew is contemplating offering the teenage Ameobi a home debut against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. While Sammy would prefer it to be alongside Shola, he accepts their relationship is changing. "My brother's my inspiration," he says. "But he's also becoming my competition."

For the moment, though, such sibling rivalry belongs firmly in the future. "I spent years watching my brother from the stands thinking 'I wish I could do that', so it was brilliant to come on at Chelsea," Sammy says. "Now I can't explain how amazing playing with Shola at St James' would be – there aren't enough words."