Newcastle Utd 0 Man City 1

NEWCASTLE: Given, Carr, Moore (Onyewu 73), Taylor, Babayaro,Solano (Milner 76), Butt, Parker, Duff, Dyer (Sibierski 77),Martins.

Subs Not Used: Harper, Emre.

MAN CITY: Isaksson, Onuoha (Trabelsi 85), Dunne, Distin, Ball,Jihai, Barton, Hamann (Samaras 46), Johnson, Vassell, Mpenza.

Subs Not Used: Weaver, Corradi, Miller.

Att: 52,004

Emile Mpenza struck 10 minutes from time to claim a second win in as many games and pile the pressure on Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder.

Roeder had his excuses at the ready, but we're sick to the back teeth of hearing them. Yes we've had injuries; yes we are missing Michael Owen; yes we could do with more money to buy class individuals .... but yes the team looks as organised as kick about in a school play yard; yes Oba Martins is not getting the service he deserves; yes the players need motivating; yes there were ten players out there who should learn from the passion of City midfielder Joey Barton.

The toothless Magpies were booed from the pitch again after a disjointed and uninspired display, and the bottom line is ... they deserved it.

Newcastle were wasteful in possession, short on ideas and inept in front of goal to leave the fans wondering where we are heading, because it sure as hell isn't up the table. Scott Parker had an effort ruled out for offside, and then it was downhill from then onwards.

Obafemi Martins and strike partner Kieron Dyer were given no service; the midfield was bogged down without controlling anything; and it was not a pretty sight.

The strike pair were quite simply never in the game, with Sylvain Distin and Richard Dunne dominant to the extent that Dyer spent much of the game camped on the halfway line desperately trying to get himself involved.

Newcastle failed to deal with Joey Barton as he repeatedly broke from central midfield, it was City who looked the more likely to break the deadlock.

There was no faulting Newcastle's endeavour as they sought the breakthrough but there was a distinct lack of quality when they got into the final third with keeper Andreas Isaksson untroubled.

There were boos from the home supporters when Roeder made his first change and replaced Moore with fellow central defender Oguchi Onyewu.

Milner and Antoine Sibierski soon followed as replacements for Dyer and Solano, but the mood was becoming uglier by the minute.

There was worse to come, however, when Michael Johnson picked out Mpenza in acres of space and he fired gleefully past Given to claim all three points. Taylor rattled the crossbar with a minute remaining and Stephen Carr and Onyewu both went close to an equaliser, but it was simply not Newcastle's day.