Poor show! Newcastle 1-2 Everton.

Newcastle missed the chance to take advantage of yet another home game this afternoon as they went down 2-1 to Everton at St James' Park.

In a rather predictable kick in the bollocks, of the kind that we have become accustomed to over the years, an injury-ravaged Everton side deserved the points against an injury-ravaged Newcastle side. In truth the home side probably deserved to lose and could have scored more goals as Newcastle pushed up looking for an equaliser. It wasn't to be though and Newcastle remain ninth in the Premier League table on a day when a win could have seen them climb to seventh.

The match was a pretty tight affair to start with. Neither team gave much away and goalmouth action was restricted to virtually nothing with the bulk of the game being played in the middle of the park as both sides poked and prodded whilst searching for an opening.

The first chance of the game came on 17 minutes and fell for Everton's Mikel Arteta who was shown inside by Steven Taylor and unleashed a fierce shot at goal which Steve Harper smartly palmed away. Just six minutes later though it was the home side who made the breakthrough when Mike Williamson fed the ball to Kevin Nolan in the box. The midfielder saw his angled shot palmed away by Tim Howard although unfortunately for Everton the rebound fell nicely to Leon Best who headed into an unguarded net to give the home side the lead.

From then it was Newcastle who took control of the game and did all the running as they looked to extend the lead. Best and Nolan both went close as the home side started asserting their authority. But within the space of five minutes the game was to be turned on it's head.

Everton forced an equaliser when Mikel Arteta was allowed a free run down the left side of the pitch. The Spanish midfielder found Leon Osman in the box who finished smartly from 12-yards out. Then just five minutes later the away side took the lead when Leighton Baines pinpoint cross found Phil Jagielka who prodded the ball past Steve Harper and into the back of the Newcastle goal via the crossbar.

All across the back four their were mistakes being made. Nobody was any less guilty, although the usually superb Jose Enrique did seem to be really struggling. He was withdrawn before half time due to what looks to be some sort of shin injury.

Newcastle were just not at the races today, and that continued in the second half as they pushed for an equaliser. They had enough possession in dangerous areas to try and get the goal and the had enough about them to force the play, but they very rarely threatened the Everton goal with the usual cause being that the final ball was just that little bit off.

Leon Best thought that he had equalised, but referee Howard Webb blew the whistle well before the ball hit the back of the net and the goal was ruled out for a push on Jagielka. TV replays showed the foul to be very weak, but it was also just about the right call as I would be screaming blue murder if one of those went against us.

Everton had numerous chances to put the game to bed but failed to capitalise on the gaps created by the home side searching for the equaliser. A combination of some last ditch defending, Steven Harper, and Everton's profligacy in front of goal all combined to ensure that the win was restricted to just the one goal.

Injuries are stacking up now, which is why the fact that we now don't play for another two weeks comes as some light relief. Hopefully by then we will manage to get some of our players back on the pitch.

Talk of Europe and top six finishes is dead, if it was ever really alive in the first place that is. What we must do now is concentrate on getting as many points as we can.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Steve Harper, Steven Taylor, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Danny Simpson, Kevin Nolan, Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Leon Best, Peter Lovenkrands.

Subs: Tim Krul, James Perch, Shane Ferguson, Danny Guthrie, Michael Richardson, Shola Ameobi, Shefki Kuqi.

Everton: Tim Howard, Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin, Leighton Baines, Phil Neville, Jack Rodwell, Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman, Jermaine Beckford, Louis Saha.

Subs: Jan Mucha, John Heitinga, Seamus Coleman, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Shane Duffy, Jose Baxter, Victor Anichebe.

Referee: Howard Webb.

Attendance: 50,128.