The Northern Ireland goalkeeper was to blame at St Andrews last week when his blunder gifted Simon Davies a goal and Everton only their second win of the season. And he was guilty again after 78 minutes when he allowed Emre's 25-yarder to slip through his grasp for the only goal of the game.. Steve Bruce kept faith with the same defensive line-up that started against Everton last week but in midfield Muzzy Izzet and Stan Lazaridis returned in place of the unavailable Nicky Butt and the injured Damien Johnson. Emile Heskey was used as a lone striker with Jiri Jarosik playing just off the Blues centre-forward and Mikael Forssell dropping to the bench. In fairness to the Blues they fully deserved a least a point, but luck tends not to go your way when you are languishing second from bottom of the table. Jiri Jarosik rattled the Newcastle post with a speculative 35-yarder just before the hour mark in a match that was littered by far too many stoppages from referee Mike Dean. The impression was that one goal would always claim the points. The big question was, who would score that all important goal? But the all important winner stemmed from Owen's determination. Twice he could have shot at goal, but he eventually squared the ball for Celestine Babayaro who laid the ball into the path of Emre and the Turk settled the issue - completely wrong-footing Taylor in the Blues goal.
Blues started off positively, solid at the back and confident in possession. That confidence grew throughout the game to the extent that neither of Alan Shearer or Michael Owen managed a shot on target.