Half time: United 0 Rovers 0

75 mins A flag kick from the North West corner was played short by Craig Conway and when Liam Feeney's right-footed cross was whipped over, Charlie Mulgrew acrobatically volleyed past Karl Darlow in the Leazes End goal from six yards. 0-1

Full time: United 0 Rovers 1

Rafa:

"It was very disappointing because I didn’t like the way we started the game.

"I didn’t like the way the game was being stopped all of the time with free-kicks and corners without giving us the advantage. 

"I didn't like our reaction when we were losing, and we have to do better. I didn't like the chances we didn't take, and I didn't like my decisions. But we cannot change things. 

"We have to analyse what happened before the next game and make sure we don't make the same mistakes.

"I knew that when you lose a game and you change your players, everyone blames the manager. I knew that. But in the same time, we have to show more character and more personality.

"If you don’t perform at the level you have to perform you have to give credit to the opposition.

"But they had too many things in favour and it wasn’t the same for us. I don’t want to make excuses, we were poor with a lot of things and we didn’t take our chances when we had them. 

"We allowed them to play the way they wanted to play.”

They Said

Owen Coyle:

"I've said consistently that we will not be in that area of the league over the course of the season.

"Newcastle will go on and win the league, I have no doubt. But we showed that we can play a bit ourselves.

"People look at the league table and don't see the big picture - I know exactly the building blocks that have been put in place to take this club forward.

"The important thing now is to build momentum. That is what I said after beating Brentford, there is no point having a great performance then come to Newcastle and not perform to our maximum.

"People will think I'm a little bit crazy, but we certainly believed that we could come here and win.

"There is a lot of perception in football and people see the table and think Blackburn are a poor team; nothing could be further from the truth.

"We took two points from our first seven games and there was a lot going on at the club. From there after, I think that is now 17 points from 11 games and that is close to play-off form.

"We stuck to the game-plan, we asked them to stand toe-to-toe, we marked them man-for-man all over the park. We knew we would have to do a lot of dirty work."

52,000 fans gathered to witness a piece of NUFC club history, but rather than a tenth successive win were given a reminder that we're past masters in the art of making things difficult for ourselves.

A Blackburn Rovers side who had managed just four points from a possible 24 away from Ewood Park this season were rated at 9/1 for the win, but once again found the Tyneside air to their liking.

Discounting our FA Cup success in 2012, we've now lost six of the last seven home meetings with Rovers - if they could replicate that sort of form elsewhere they'd still be in the Premier League....

Victory at Leeds left Rafa's side level with Kevin Keegan's class of 1994, but while that winning run ended with a draw against Liverpool, today was a re-run of the day our mask slipped in 1992.

Similar circumstances brought unfashionable Grimsby Town to Tyneside then, a frustrating afternoon capped by a journeyman called Jim Dobbin scoring the goal of his career and ending Newcastle's run.

Ultimately that proved to be a temporary setback for United, who went on to lift the title. Hopefully we'll look back on this as nothing more than a blip, but a third home defeat in nine outings underlines the fact that we're by no means the finished article and remain a work in progress.

Like the loss to Wolves - our last reverse some ten weeks ago - United's major deficiency was creating and finishing the chances that should have followed large spells of possession.

That day, a Chancel Mbemba own goal gifted Wolves the lead but this time the central defender was less generous on his recall to the side (ex-Rover Grant Hanley unfit to face his former side).

He was one of three changes in defence while Dwight Gayle and Yoan Gouffran joined their captain on the bench - fatalists aware that we're yet to lose a game the Frenchman started this season....

Aleksandar Mitrovic's attempts to lead the line were more misfire than on fire, the Serbian chasing down lost causes and keeping his temper in check - but infuriatingly opting again and again not to jump for aerial balls, resulting in frequent loss of possession.

However, Mitro was only partly culpable for the side's stuttering with Matt Ritchie and Christian Atsu well short in the delivery department, Jonjo Shelvey less influential than of late (partly due to a lack of runners to hit) and Ayoze Perez peripheral.

Fit-again and making a first Championship start at left back, Jesus Gamez left the field on a stretcher shortly after the break with a collar-bone injury. Paul Dummett replaced him and almost immediately played in Ritchie from the left, only for the Scot to fire over in the 58th minute.

Ciaran Clark allowed Jason Steele to smother from close range and just five minutes later Charlie Mulgrew netted from the second of two corners in quick succession - the first wrongly awarded by referee David Coote.

That left United with 15 minutes of normal time to salvage something from the game but it took almost ten minutes for Dwight Gayle to make an entrance. United's top scorer then skied over after Ritchie had found him on the penalty spot and although six minutes of added time brought a series of corners, Rovers held firm with remarkably little difficulty.

Although he denied it post-match, Rafa's starting selection looked to be influenced by a cup trip to Hull on Tuesday and a league visit to Forest on Friday. 

The players given a go today hardly grabbed it with both hands though; a fact that won't be lost on the manager. Rafa may have found out more about his squad in 90 minutes today than the previous 810, as his instructions seem to fall on deaf ears for once and we reverted to predictable hoofs.

PS: Dobbin's 1992 heartbreaker was also followed by a League Cup tie away to top-flight opposition. We lost 1-2 at Chelsea. Go to Hull thinking that we have a divine right to win and we'll get another custard pie....

Biffa