At least the downpour had stopped by the time Martin Atkinson blew his final whistle, allowing for a rain-free trudge back to the car - that was about as good as it got round these parts for United. 

Leaving Tyneside in steady rain on Sunday morning, conditions worsened with large areas of standing water on the approaches to the M60. That led to the first airing this season of that dreaded phrase, "it'll be off, this" - mentioned only half in jest.

The leaden skies and ongoing construction for the tram extension made this part of Manchester look even more depressing than usual - think Potsdamer Platz just after the Berlin Wall came down. That weird metal star that used to stand outside the ground meanwhile has disappeared since we were last here - a local reckoned that it had fallen down. On top of someone.

An impromptu test on a piece of grass adjacent to the boozer confirmed that although moist, it was playable (!) and once inside said ale house, live TV shots of the stadium dispelled any lingering fears of a late postponement in the style of our trip to West Ham circa 1997.

(ESPN's pre-NUFC offering had been some Aussie rules cup final that Collingwood aka The Magpies won convincingly, leading to joyous scenes of celebrating fans clad in black and white. It didn't prove to be a good omen - although Nigel De Jong may have picked up some tackling hints...)

Once inside, things hardly improved at a ground where things have seldom gone right for United - the cold comfort of posting our most creditable performance here to date far overshadowed by injuries to loan midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa and defender Fabricio Coloccini.

Our last Eastlands excursion had seen both Joey Barton (11 games out) and Michael Owen (5 games out, following a De Jong tackle) prematurely forced off with injuries, but today's obviously much worse - more like Tony Green at Selhurst Park, with possible similar consequences.

Barely four minutes had elapsed when Ben Arfa was left sprawled out on the pitch a few yards outside the City area, following a strong challenge from Nigel De Jong. Although Atkinson saw nothing wrong and allowed play to continue, United's Frenchman received oxygen on the field before departing for hospital on a stretcher, scans later revealing a broken tib and fib on his left leg.

Ben Arfa's departure immediately raised questions of whether we'd ever see him again in a Newcastle shirt, with his predicted recovery time coinciding with the period of his loan. And as well as the aforementioned Tony Green, Geoff Allen also got a mention - will Ben Arfa's goal at Everton be his sole contribution to the club's history, in the same way fellow winger Allen is recalled only for his tormenting of Feyenoord in the Fairs Cup before succumbing to injury. Let's hope not.

More cynically, the question was also asked as to whether the club would attempt to turn the situation to their advantage by gambling on his fitness by making Marseille an offer for what at present are damaged goods. Given that Gosling was signed in a similar condition it's not without precedent - even if the contractual situation is radically different.

What response came from the away fans to the Ben Arfa incident was provoked by second hand news beamed into them from those watching the game on TV - with the pivtoal moment coming when texts started reporting that ESPN were witholding some footage of the tackle as it was too distressing to broadcast - reminiscent of Martin Taylor's lunge on Eduardo Da Silva. 

Coming at the far end of the field,  a lack of reaction by the Newcastle players on the field towards De Jong also gave an impression that the injury wasn't calculated. Consequently no obvious abuse of De Jong was evident from that point on.

The post-match chorus of disapproval grew steadily - Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk deselecting De Jong from his squad and only Magpies coach Colin Calderwood attempting to give the defender the benefit of the doubt.

Wenger and his ilk may demand that the delicate flowers in their side get extra protection, but a bad tackle on anyone is a bad tackle, be it Barton or Ben Arfa. De Jong's challenge looked as violent and pre-meditated as the one that saw Lee Mason dismiss Karl Henry at Wigan the previous afternoon - any initial contact with the ball was an irrelevance to the follow-through.

Things then went from bad to worse as another dubious penalty decision gave City the chance to go ahead. There's a growing sense of injustice over penalty awards among away travellers - who have seen United denied blatant spot kicks at Everton and now here, but penalised at Chelsea and now here for dubious verging on ridiculous. Having said that though, my first reaction to the Williamson tackle was "penalty" - like the referee, that's without the benefit of multiple replays. 

That lead lasted for just six minutes however, before Jonas Gutierrez levelled and with City seemingly reluctant to commit further resources upfield, United more than held their own for the remainder of the first half. Another forced substitution was required though, when Fabricio Coloccini went off with a groin strain - Sol Campbell appearing for his first league outing posting a decent display.

His arrival gave the United defence some organisation, while Tiote again impressing with his energy and mobility and the oft-booed Joey Barton timed some wholehearted tackles to perfection.

City boss Roberto Mancini attempted to rouse his side by introducing Emanuel Adabayor, but it was the arrival of lively winger Adam Johnson that proved to be the difference between the two sides. 

Within three minutes of coming on, the boyhood Toon fan who was with Newcastle as a junior had grabbed what proved to be the winner - enough to earn him man of the match plaudits and easing the burden on anyone who wanted to write about a toon old boy haunting his former employers - James Milner's contribution familiar to those who watched him at SJP, being honest, energetic and thoroughly average. Yes, the lad has days when he sparkles - but today just wasn't one of them. 

Having opted to start with Shola Ameobi as his main attacker, our final replacement saw Andy Carroll arrive in place of Nolan - although the apparently under the weather number nine  didn't have any opportunities to add to his four goals this season.

Newcastle fans were on their feet in the closing stages screaming for a spot kick, after Ameobi had his legs swiped from under him by Joleon Lescott. No penalty was forthcoming and when Williamson got on the end of a corner, only to power his header over the crossbar, United's hopes of what would have been a deserved point evaporated. 

Post-match interviews saw Chris Hughton unsurprisingly fuming over the tackle on Ben Arfa and the performance of the referee - who certainly seemed to have a home win down on his coupon.

Looking beyond the result and the injury list (which messrs Simpson and Guthrie have now finally been removed from), there were positives to take from this in terms of the performance. Certainly an improvement on the display across the city at Old Trafford in August, similar fighting qualities to those evident at Goodison were to the fore. Three defeats from our last four league games though isn't anything to smile about. 

A quartet of upcoming home fixtures - Wigan, mackems, Blackburn, Fulham - provide a viable opportunity to collect points. But without the "wildcard" of Ben Arfa, the onus is even more on Chris Hughton to plot a strategy to win at SJP, and have a plan B that isn't reliant on doodling lines and crosses at pitchside with time running out.   

Biffa