Sir Bobby said:

Graeme Souness said:

"We've got the three points today, but the joy is tempered somewhat with the news about Barry Ferguson, he has broken his knee-cap, so that is him out for the rest of the season.

"We've been very happy with him, I think he's a cracking player and he was just finding his feet in this league.

"We hope this is a significant turning point in our season, we had a wee bit of a run about a month ago and then we faltered again.

"The table is so tight, we've now more or less reached the halfway point and we feel that we've not really started.

"We defended really well today, which is unsual for us, Markus Babbel and Andy Todd were outstanding, Lucas Neill and Vratty they both did their jobs as well.

"Young Gally did really well up front.

"I've seen the goal, it was fortunate, but I have to say we have had very little luck this season. No penalties, no real breaks of the ball.

"Our football at times has been good, we've passed it well, too pretty at times, but we are hoping that today starts us and that we can kick on for the second half of the season."

The goalscorer added:

"I've seen Brett Emerton get the ball, I just got in between the two defenders, I don't know how it went in, I think it hit my shoulder.

"We're delighted with the win and the performance. I don't care how it went in, as long as the ball went into the back of the net, just to get the three points for the lads, I think we deserved it today.

"We've had chances, their 'keeper has had to make a couple of saves, a few off the line, we just had to dig in and get one at the end. We needed that, it takes us away from relegation, the lads battled until the end.

"I'm enjoying my football at Blackburn, the manager has given me a chance and hopefully I've taken it and I'll keep on playing. I hope today is the turning point and we'll go on and win more games and pull away from the bottom.

Rovers finally managed a league victory at SJP, ending a 45-year wait since their last success in August 1958. Since then, Newcastle have won 11 and drawn 8 of the 19 games staged before today. 

However their last victory of any description on Tyneside was in November 1998 when they won a penalty shootout to decide a Worthington Cup tie. 

The saving clearance at the Leazes end by Andy O'Brien to prevent Andy Cole making it 2-0 to Rovers also stopped the former toon striker from registering the 250th goal of his league career.

There was a first senior NUFC start for Michael Chopra five days after his 20th birthday, coming after seven substitute appearances in the Premiership, League Cup and Champions League. 

However he still awaits his first goal and has only won once - at Leverkusen. His four appearances at SJP were all defeats - Everton in the League Cup last season and the visits of Manchester United, Birmingham and Blackburn this time out.    

Following hard on the heels of dispiriting displays at Charlton and Leicester, this was another wretched ninety minutes from the black and whites that at times verged on the unwatchable and didn't even provide those watching or participating with the scant consolation of a point. 

After showing flashes of form in beating Pompey, Man City and Spurs, we appeared to have retreated to the desperate stumblings of early season home matches against the likes of Bolton and Birmingham.

And while the goal that separated the two sides today was dubious and shouldn't have counted, the one that Chopra thought he had scored just before half time was rightly ruled out for offside and that apart, we looked less and less like beating Friedel in goal as the afternoon wore on. Let's just say at this point that Blackburn were equally rotten and like Leicester, there for the taking.

Hoots of derision from toon fans at various points in the game were the main background noise, given the almost complete absence of singing and support from the stands - there again the atmosphere was there in abundance at Leicester 48 hours before and we were no better.....

And before the goal of the month judges have even met to decide which of Robert's two strikes against Spurs was the best, there are signs that his double breakthrough in that game is threatening to turn him into a one-trick Frenchman. 

As the ironic "shoot" chants die away from the crowd, he's still trying to emulate his great efforts from a variety of distances - nothing wrong in that and in many ways admirable given the inability to shoot demonstrated by many colleagues. It's frustrating in the case of set pieces though, when perhaps a little variety might have brought reward rather than trying to bludgeon the ball every time through a solid Rovers wall.

At least Robert proved capable of controlling the ball after a fashion, a skill which was mysteriously absent from the game of Jenas - again managing to stay on the field for ninety minutes despite having an absolute nightmare and looking a prime candidate for being subbed and then dropped. Of course he's guaranteed his place though in the absence of others, so can look forward to other meaningless, meandering non-displays at Old Trafford at St.Mary's in the near future. That's provided he's not off modelling daft clothes for the tabloids again of course.

Sad to say also that the experienced limbs of Speed and Shearer were looking a bit tired today and the inspiration was in short supply with their younger counterparts unable to provide the legs to assist them.

After applauding Bobby for dropping LuaLua, it was hard not to feel sorry for Chopra and the manager when the local lad was given his chance and just couldn't maintain an onside position to knock home Nobby's centre legally. 

After missing in a penalty shoot at the Leazes end last season, the youngster must think this ground is jinxed. Almost inevitably Chops was trying to do everything very correctly, knowing that his chances will be few and far between and in trying to deliberately place his passes etc. was on the verge of trying too hard, if that's possible. 

The best way to sum it up would be to compare him to a fan who pays a few grand for a once-in-a-lifetime experience of playing alongside his heroes in a friendly or some such and competes with that faint air of desperation in knowing he'll probably never get to do this again.

He made way for LuaLua, who once again gave us a master class in frustration and profligacy, constantly appearing to be on the verge of doing something magical, yet always beating his man to slip the cross into the goalkeeper's arms or finding himself the right side of a tackle but without that round thing that's quite important....

We also had a brief outing from Viana, who showed more in 9 minutes than he has in longer periods recently and may well find himself tasked with trying to conjure up goalscoring chances for Shearer and whoever in the new year, assuming he shakes off his case of the sulks and realises that playing well and regularly in an English Premiership team will advance his claims for Euro 2004 inclusion.

After sitting calmly for a while, Sir Bobby was as usual up on his feet, cajoling and directing the players when not berating the officials for their lax decisions. Same as usual then, apart from the fact he may as well have been trying to attract passing aircraft for all the notice his charges on the field took of him. 

And what about the man who would be king, occupying the away dugout today clad in what looked like a designer donkey jacket? In some quarters, Souness is frequently mentioned in connection with our hot seat, but while his team today left with the points they displayed little style in the process and in Brett Emerton seem to have beaten us to the punch in signing a bit of a preening ponce with a Viduka-like tendency to topple under the slightest provocation. 

Souness was certainly in a rather less demonstrative mood than is often the case, but his lack of animation on the bench failed to hide a certain dissatisfaction - he could probably take over Newcastle at a moment's notice, as many of our failings are shared by Rovers - somehow we seem to add up to less than the sum of our individual  parts, a sort of reverse synergy.

Sorry that this is all doom and gloom, but having wandered up and down the nation in recent weeks, interspersing that travelling with planning yet more trips to the far reaches of the country, there's a growing frustration among the fans that partly manifests itself in the apathy that we saw today - and our number nine seems similarly hacked off if his comments above are to be believed. Quite simply they're hardly worth raising a cheer for at present. Some people booed them off at the end, I preferred just to walk away and try and forget all about the game - not difficult given the almost total lack of memorable moments we conjured up.

A fellow malcontent made the astute comment that when we hammered these lot 5-1 back in March on Tyneside when Rovers had arguably a better side out with the now-departed Dunn and Duff both featuring. Both teams have gone backwards since then.

In our case, after having risen from the depths of ordinariness at the start of this season to hit a bit of form and regain that all-important rub of the green, we're in danger of dropping back into the mire again and finding ourselves rubbing shoulders with the likes of bloody Middlesbrough. 

There's not much in the way of us making a valid attempt at claiming fourth spot if we can show a semblance of form and consistency, but unfortunately that's a rather large "if" at present. The likes of Curbishley, Houllier, Strachan et al will all believe the same and can state a case for their sides as least as valid as ours.

So, we turn into 2004 still misfiring, with a side frustratingly incapable of playing coherently, cohesively and consistently. And we're still within touching distance in the league, for now, despite the fact we're regularly tossing away points to the four winds. 

It's not enough to say we're short-handed through injury, that just doesn't wash. 
There seems a lack of belief from some players, an absence of spirit in others and a general inability to focus on the task in hand. Yet 52,000 still turn up to watch. For now.

Given the way we're playing at present, trips to St.Mary's and Old Trafford are being made with even more of a heavy heart than usual by the faithful, while other non-believers gleefully prepare for another couple of our habitual televised humiliations. 

It would be nice to think that we could stir ourselves for both occasions (plus the visit of Leeds sandwiched in between) and show some pride and fighting spirit but at this moment in time it's difficult to see where the inspiration will come from and those two away treks stretch out before us like a prison sentence. 

Come on, prove us wrong for doubting you. Let's see someone else stand up for this club.....apart from the travelling fans.

Biffa

Reports