Full time: Newcastle 1 Portsmouth 1

Graeme Souness said:

"We made a very good start and I hoped we would build from that, but we didn't. It is frustrating. We dominated the game and I don't know how much possession we had, but we ended up with only one point.

"And for all our huffing and huffing, their goalkeeper did not have too many saves to make."

"On another day, we could have lost it because on three occasions down our left-hand side, they broke on us - but we were a near miss. A lot of our stuff was good, a lot of our stuff was poor.

"If we can iron out the times when we are not so good, then we would be a proper team."

Caretaker boss Joe Jordan said:

"They applied themselves well. We got off to an horrendous start, so that is even more credit to them. The goal that was scored, you would not say there were too many errors on our part. It was an exceptional goal.

"Teams have come here and gone under after conceding an early goal. But we were spirited and resilient. We wanted to come here and frustrate St James' Park.

"And after the goal, we settled down, started to come into the game and we contained them."

Now four successive Premiership home games without a victory - 2 draws, 2 defeats - Sir Bobby's worst run was three.

We at least kept up our unbeaten record and scoring sequence against Pompey at SJP:

NUFC  vs Pompey @ SJP

2004/05 Drew 1-1 Bowyer
2003/04 Won 3-0 Speed, Shearer, Ameobi
1992/93 Won 3-1 Quinn 2, Kelly
1991/92 Won 1-0 Kelly
1990/91 Won 2-0 Quinn 2
1989/90 Won 1-0 Thorn
1987/88 Drew 1-1 Mirandinha
1983/84 Won 4-2 Waddle 2, Keegan, Wharton
1964/65 Won 3-0 Iley, Hockey, Anderson
1963/64 Won 1-0 Dalton
1962/63 Drew 1-1 Thomas
1958/59 Won 2-0 Bottom 2
1957/58 Won 2-0 Davies, Mitchell
1956/57 Won 2-1 Crowe, Taylor
1955/56 Won 2-1 Mitchell 2
1954/55 Won 2-1 Keeble
1953/54 Drew 1-1 Milburn
1952/53 Won 1-0 G.Robledo
1951/52 Drew 3-3 Milburn, Mitchell, G.Robledo

1950/51 Drew 0-0 No scorer
1949/50 Lost 1-3 G.Robledo

Fourth Premiership appearance for defender Steven Taylor - and he's yet to finish on the winning side.

For the second home game in a row, we recorded a 1-1 draw that felt like a defeat, having taken the lead with an eye-catching strike at the Leazes end, only to prove incapable of stopping a little bald bloke from levelling or mounting a serious attempt thereafter at troubling the scorers.

And once again - as our Graeme rightly pointed out - huff and puff were not enough and 50,000 people trudged home, having had their weekend spoiled again by an artless Newcastle display. 

But while Everton are in a post-Rooney upsurge and being led by a Scotsman who is once again gathering favourable reviews in the quality press, apart from the final score, the only thing they had in common with Portsmouth were blue shirts, a small away following.....and a Scottish manager.

Dressed like a PE teacher, Joe Jordan seemed to have become caretaker manager at Fratton Park by being the last one there who hadn't decamped to set up base camp along the south coast - or nipped abroad for his yuletide grog.

In the same way as we travelled to Stamford Bridge last week, the journeying Pompey fans must have quietly been dreading this trip, given their singular lack of success on previous occasions and the apparent disarray that their club had been in since 'Arry slung his hook.

We by contrast may have been shorn of the services of Kluivert and Shearer, but were able to call upon Bellamy (three goals in last four games) and Ameobi (two goals in a reserve warm-up and full of talk in the pre-match buildup.)

And when news broke that Robert had been dropped after some training ground discord, the scene looked set for the young guns (aka the brat pack, the smoking guns, call them what you will) to seize the day, restoring us to winning ways and lightening the mood on Tyneside.

Things looked promising when our first attack brought instant reward, young Steven Taylor sweeping forward and teeing up old stager Lee Bowyer (at 27 the oldest outfield player.) 

At that juncture the Hampshire massive on Level 7 could have been forgiving for pulling up their coat collars and settling deeper in the seats, in prospect of a miserable afternoon in a season which had brought only one away win. 

Home fans by contrast looked like getting an early Christmas feast, after three home games in which gruel had been on the menu. And we threatened to gorge ourselves when Bellamy streaked upfield and played in Dyer for number two, only for the midfielder to get his feet wrapped up and put the chance over the bar.

Unfortunately, other than another Bowyer effort from a set-piece there was little else worth cheering until Robert's entrance in the second half - upon which he almost turned the game with a stinging shot that Ashdown palmed away, before reverting to type.

The final few minutes were as muddled as any we've seen in recent years and we were only one misdirected header from going 2-1 down - an act which would have precipitated a mass walk out and more agitating from those who remained behind. 

Quite simply we were devoid of ideas and played simple, ugly football that failed to unite the team and fans - and we couldn't play that football as well as the aforementioned Everton.  

The only reactions this team engenders from its supporters at present are negative ones - bewilderment, disenfranchisement, anger and worst of all indifference. People are only motivated to climb off their seats to shout abuse - or leave - as songs begin but just die on the wind. 

A series of misplaced passes seemed to confirm that we weren't collectively on the same wavelength and, like the last half hour of a pub disco, across the field there was disappointment, wherever one looked. 

Claims by Olivier Bernard that he hadn't seen his enhanced contract seemed rather surprising, given that he played in this game as if he was carrying his signing-on fee in the pocket of his shorts - in euro coins.

And while Bellamy at least tried to take up positions in a vaguely centre-forwardish area - even though he had something of a stinker, his alleged partner Ameobi was so often found wanting.

A century of Newcastle appearances were notched up by the 23 year-old last week when he came off the bench, but here today he was in from the start and "shooting from the lip" about giving Souness added problems with selection.

In that respect, yet another circumspect display from him was utterly frustrating and probably benefited a certain Dutchman more than himself. 

Whenever Milner or whoever got to a position where a cross was at least theoretically possible, we simply had no bodies in the Pompey box - any notion of midfield players coming through and running into space seems to have departed from this arena when Gary Speed took his final bow.

After witnessing a new low in his Magpie reign, doubtless the manager was engaged in the process of roasting chestnuts behind a closed dressing room door. He barely defended his players in public from the negative response received from both the four sides of the stadium and the press box.

With trips to Liverpool and the visit of Arsenal before we bid farewell to 2004, the idiot SJP DJ who chose to play "Things Can Only get Better" at the end of the game obviously hasn't seen the fixture list.

Perhaps "Lonely this Christmas" by Mud might have been a better choice - as we're now firmly in the clarts. Best get on that Easyjet website lads and lasses, if you want to indulge in some midweek Euro city-hopping next season - unless we make a radical return to form or the Intertoto returns, the team will be staying in Blighty when the real stuff gets underway.

But given the collective failure of our alleged golden generation to live up to their own billing against the most mediocre of opponents, a slight rewrite of that Mott the Hoople classic "All the Young Duds" would seem more appropriate, as the hyped-up heroes drive people towards the exits at a rate of knots.

What's just as bad is to then go for a cheering ale in the town, only to bump into the buggers again, acting as if they haven't got a care in the world. 

And you just know the same players will be bleating to their agents, as well as indulging in yet more self-congratulation via the media - we may be in the bottom half of the league, but to read the fawning toss emanating from Bramble, Dyer and others would lead one to suspect that we were on the coat tails of Chelsea and the others.

So, only three more shocking days (plus Lisbon) until the January sales. Anfield and Ewood may provide Christmas cheer - but I doubt it. When it's wrong here, it's totally fettled. One can only feel sympathy for Souness having to work with this rabble and knowing that the next two Premiership games take him back to arenas where the occasion means far more to him than some of his players.   

We eagerly await the Highland Clearances of 2005 and the disappearance of a number of guests who have outstayed their welcome - And hopefully those who are spared will have unwrapped a better attitude by the time the promised reinforcements arrive.

Biffa

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