For any Toon fans unable to emulate the players by jetting back last Saturday for the Hatton / Calzaghe boxing extravaganza at Newcastle Arena, then this match was a virtual facsimile of what went on that night. 

In the black and white corner Newcastle United, with firepower a-plenty and confidence enough to take any shots from their opponent and return them, with interest. Hit us, we'll hit you back twice as often.... 

In the other corner, seemingly poised to throw the towel in before the first bell, Fulham. 
Punch drunk, with no offensive power to speak of and way too familiar with the feeling of being pressed back against the ropes.

The Newcastle players believed this contest was ours to win, the fans certainly seemed to share that view and the body language of the visitors suggested that they had come to lose and withdraw to lick their wounds. Only the truly optimistic were backing the underdog today and despite being clad in their traditional shirts, Fulham were no great white hope.  

Throw in the behaviour of the Fulham goalkeeper who looked to have been told to take a fall in the first round and even a Puerto Rican judge would have marked his scorecard decisively.

It's a little disingenuous to force this argument, given that Tigana was well short of his full complement...and none of his players wore boxing gloves. Van der Saar may well have had clown's shoes on though, and arrived in a car where the doors kept falling off.... 

The man who had kept us at bay on the banks of the Thames just over a year before was all at sea this time, gifting us an opening goal that more or less decided the destination of all the points with over eighty minutes of the contest still to play. 

We'd have needed another of those O'Brien woodwork-rippling specials to go past Given to pull our usual stunt of going behind before coming out on top in this game.

The Cottager's keeper almost did it again later in the first half, only for mackem Melville to save his blushes with a goal line clearance to deny Solano. And after the break a headlong charge out of goal and into Shearer was rewarded with a yellow card, mainly because a clutch of his defenders were positioned between Van der Saar and his goal.

However, a self-inflicted injury sustained in this incident saw the keeper depart within quarter of an hour. The only other explanation is that he may have ricked his neck attempting to follow the trajectory of the Shearer space launch from the penalty spot.

At the other end of the field, Given could have spent the afternoon writing his Christmas cards, never having a shot to save. While undoubtedly partly due to the efforts of his defence, with Caldwell again a pivotal figure, this sad stat said as much for the lack of attacking talent at the disposal of Tigana as for our increased solidity.

With all three goalscorers from last season unavailable (Saha, Hayles and Legwinski) and Sava, Boa Morte and Inamoto also crocked, the burden of the Fulham attack fell on French duo Malbranque and Marlet. 

And with the former frankly hopeless and the latter under investigation by his present and former clubs after about a few million missing Euro, then pickings were thin and chins on the floor as the home side dominated all areas of the field.

Anyway, enough of the other lot and on to what we like best, recording positive play and effort from those in the stripes.

Sir Bobby chose to withdraw both Dyer and Speed in the closing stages and on each occasion urged the crowd on to greater applause, accolades that were richly deserved, twice over.

The England man followed up an energetic afternoon in front of Sven at Southampton last week with a more incisive contribution on his home ground. He was nominally in central midfield but made frequent forays here and there to good effect, unsettling the opposition with his perpetual motion.

Again he was aided in this role by the contribution of Speed alongside him, who fetched and carried, hassled and harried and generally put in a fine grafting shift.    

As decisive a two goal victory as you'll see, then. And it could and should have been more, with Robert coming more into the fray in the closing stages, infuriating the crowd with ill-advised punts from distance before coming over all unnecessary in the box when he could almost have blown the ball in for the third. 

Opinion remains divided over the merits and demerits of his contributions, but it's fair to say that he's not playing as well and with as much end reward as he or his manager would like. In this season of goodwill, that may be the most diplomatic thing we've written this year...

It's heartening to see that we've regained our habit from last season, of being efficient dispatchers of virtual cannon fodder at home and more aware and astute on the road. 

Viana aside, we've not been hit hard by injuries so far, with Caldwell has admirably filled in for Bramble (and the Greek) while even Carl Cort stirred  his bones in a midweek reserve performance. A few more of those and he might even be worth naming as a sub.

Into 2003 we go after two more big games, against sides we need to beat. 

Then some unfinished business with Liverpool, who remain on a personal hit list of teams we owe, big style. Michael Owen and Co. should provide certainly a good test for our improving defence, even if they've struggled elsewhere recently.... 

After that the FA Cup returns to tempt and beguile us, with something of a potential banana skin in the Black Country. Danger lurks at every corner if we get complacent, but at present we're in good shape for the voyage, unlike some other much-vaunted clubs we could mention, messrs Vegetables and McClaren.

Final word to Radio 5 on Saturday night - "The Premiership is now a four horse race, between Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool." 

An interesting view of things, given that we were fourth at that moment. With a game in hand (at home to Bolton) and said "big clubs" all still to come to St.James' then a continuation of our excellent home form would force people to take notice of us.