5 mins Picking the ball up on the right, James Milner left ex-mackem Gavin McCann scrabbling in the dirt before firing in a vicious drive that made another mackem old boy Thomas Sorensen look silly. 1-0 

7 mins Milner turned provider, lofting a cleared corner onto the unmarked head of Kieron Dyer who picked his spot from ten yards, for our 50th goal of the season. 2-0 

25 mins More shambolic defending from a corner gifted a goal with Steve Harper having to save a Paul Huntington flick before Parker cleared off the line but Young volleyed in the clearance. 2-1 

Half time: Newcastle 2 Aston Villa 1

90 mins Damien Duff broke and squared the ball to Antoine Sibierski who lashed home a powerful right foot shot into the Gallowgate goal. 3-1 

Full time: Newcastle 3 Aston Villa 1

Glenn Roeder said:

"I was relieved when Sibi scored because we won a game in which we came under severe pressure.

"But we've got to look at the positives. We started brilliantly with two magnificent goals, much like we did against Tottenham before Christmas.

"Scotty Parker saw a great shot hit the crossbar, and had that gone in the game would definitely have been over at 3-0.

"Having said that, at 2-0 the job should have been done as well, especially at this level.

"But we let in a silly goal, which we've done too often this year.

"We didn't deal with the corner very well at the near post, and it ended up travelling to the far post.

"From being in control, we were then under the cosh, which we shouldn't have been.

"Villa did well, and for 15 minutes it was touch-and-go.

"I was quite happy to get into the dressing room and have a few words at half-time."

"Harps' save in the first minute or so of the second half was very important, without a doubt. I told him after the game that it was the equivalent of scoring a goal.

"We survived, and in the second half we had a number of situations where we did break away and we could have scored on the break earlier than we did.

"Nevertheless the third goal was well constructed, and Sibierski showed yet again again what a good finisher he is."

Martin O'Neill broke off from solving cold case file murders* to say:

"It's hard to believe we've played so well and yet lost that one. I was very pleased with some of the football played tonight.

"We made a nightmare start and I'm not too pleased with the goals conceded, but after that, we outplayed Newcastle in the first-half. We continued to play well after the break, but the equaliser wouldn't come.

"I felt John Carew had what should have been a goal disallowed in the second-half. He was penalised for pushing, but if anything he was the man being fouled. That probably summed-up our luck tonight.

"But Ashley Young got the goal he deserved on his debut and both new signings played extremely well. They linked-up like they've played together for years and that augurs well for the future.

"Overall, the travelling fans gave us a great reception because they knew how well we played, but I know that in three days time nobody will care about the performance - this is a results business.

"Now we have to get back to winning ways in what is a big, big game against West Ham at Villa Park on Saturday.

"James scored a wonderful goal. He is a very good player and has been for some time.

"Our move for him nearly materialised, but it is history now. He has done very well for Newcastle and there was no point in revisiting it because I am sure I would have received short shrift."

* (from the Sunday Business Newspaper, 2004):

Martin O'Neill has been fascinated all his life not just with football and footballers, but also with murder cases. He queued to watch the trial of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, and was a regular spectator at the Rose West "House of Horror"' trial.

He even travelled to Dallas and inspected the site of John F Kennedy's assassination. After surveying the grassy knoll, he hailed a taxi to take him to Lee Harvey Oswald's house. The driver said he did not know the address but O'Neill, from his studies of the case, was able to direct him.

His interest in the nefarious stems back to the trial and subsequent execution of James Hanratty in the early 1960s. Hanratty was found guilty of murdering Michael Gregston and raping his girlfriend Valerie Storie in a field near Slough in England.

O'Neill followed the case intently and was unconvinced by the verdict. To this day, he resolutely believes Hanratty was wrongly hanged, and he even visited the judge who presided over the trial to develop his theory further.

"I have been to so many murder scenes with Martin,'' his wife Geraldine has said, "that I sometimes think that one of these days I will be murdered in one of these places myself.''

The transfer window duly closed with Newcastle three points better off, back in the top ten and achieving both with their sole January signing watching from the stands. 

Meanwhile, the man who was a last-minute acquisition at the end of the last one chose roughly around the same time in this window to end his goalscoring famine and finally secure victory.

Satisfaction then for Glenn Roeder as he prepares to celebrate a year in charge of the club. But for the man in the opposing dugout who looked like being king of this particular hill at one point, there was another mystery on which to ponder.

It may not have been the daylight robbery that some would have you believe, but Martin O'Neill and his side certainly felt mugged - with Yorkshire whistler Howard Webb singled out as prime suspect.

We could already have been ahead through Martins before Milner clobbered the opener into the Leazes net. 

And when the same player's cross was headed home by Dyer to double the score, we appeared to have well and truly exorcised the demons of the Birmingham debacle against another West Midlands outfit. 

Parker's charge upfield and toe-poked effort off the crossbar almost gave us what would have been a decisive margin. But as Curbishley & Co. found in the last game here, racing into a two-goal lead isn't necessarily game set and match.

New Villa signings Carew and Young had only acquainted themselves at that point by lining up for three kick offs, but when they did belatedly see action the alarm bells were soon ringing in front of the returning Harper.

Our enforced eleven day break gave Roeder the luxury of naming a side containing some familiar names and at least a semblance of options when looking at the bench - although Luque was nowhere to be seen, prompting misplaced speculation that his loan to PSV had become reality. 

We were soon glad of that bench cover, our opening salvo petering out with Dyer and Butt both hobbling - the latter limping out of the action with a knee problem at around the same point that Ramage had been forced off against West Ham.

Then, Edgar's appearance had steadied our flailing defence and formed the basis of our response against a side below us in the table. 

Against another lot of claret and blues, the introduction of Sibierski seemed to unsettle us though and we relinquished territory in midfield far too cheaply - not helping our cause by brainlessly braying balls forward, rather than persisting with a ground-based attack that cut swathes through the opposition. 

Maybe it was some residual paranoia remaining from the FA Cup drubbing. but clumps of Newcastle players began sprouting on the edge of our own box with alarming regularity, causing coach Nigel Pearson to seemingly attempt flight as he frantically waved us forward.

Ordinarily, telly pundits would highlight the positive contribution of players coming back to help out their defensive colleagues. 

However our attempts at doing so here would never appear on any coaching video - and in the case of Milner volleying the ball into his own face to set up a scoring chance for Villa seemed more suitable for inclusion on "You've Been Framed."

That aside though, the former Villa man made a valuable contribution, forced as he was to operate as a makeshift right back to compensate for the perpetually AWOL Carr. Over on the other flank Huntington wasn't quite so lucky, with Duff less willing (or able) to get up and down the wing.  

A concerted bout of Villa pressure ended with us getting forward, only for Martins to head over when unmarked. Half time came with us 2-1 ahead, although that could easily have been 5-4, but for Harper's blocks and the width of one of his posts. 

TV pictures showed new boy Gooch on his mobile in the directors box and while we're not privy to his texts, they could easily have been something along the lines of "either these are the best two attacking teams on the planet or both defences suck!"

As is often the way with games of this type the second half took a while to warm up, with neither side quite scaling the heights of the opening 45. 

However the visitors continued to press - forcing Harper into one fine instinctive stop, Taylor had to clear from under his crossbar and Carew to be harshly penalised for shirt-tugging when heading the resultant corner home - another let-off for us after Davenport's effort in the last game here.

Certainly the departure of Carew after around an hour aided our cause, as he'd we'd struggled to cope with the Norwegian's presence despite his seven-week layoff and an alleged groin strain restricting his movement.  
 
From that point Villa's threat began to wane and it became more evident that they'd flattered to deceive somewhat - our erratic defending may have made them look sharp, but Martin O'Neill won't be fooled.

It's a futile game to play in attempting to mix and match across the two squads and ponder what the former Celtic boss would have done had he taken the job at SJP.

Milner is the obvious common link (and Young an expensively inferior substitute), but for Emre read Petrov and judging by Chris Sutton's low-key arrival at Villa Park, we may still have seen Sibierski.

Hints from Obafemi Martins of what Roeder has mentioned in terms of his potential when paired with an astute partner could be seen tonight - and more than one punter speculated that the Nigerian's flicks and tricks could have been well matched with Carew. But would O'Neill have fancied Martins?

Despite all our outward unity and post-match rhetoric, the behind the scenes reality is somewhat different. 

The Chairman's boast about having the cash ready to spend in this window was at best hollow - and at worst a slap in the face for the current manager, who duly scouted his targets, wrote his wish list then sat and waited. And waited.

Roeder's view that nobody who moved in the transfer window was worth having is true up to a point when looking at the stupid money West Ham spent, but when low-key but competent Premiership performers such as Stephen Warnock were up for grabs then we have to disagree. 

And the line about the loan strikers being available not having sufficient credentials for us may yet come back to bite us on the bum, should Dyer or Martins succumb to injury and we are forced to throw in Carroll, Troisi or LuaLua - all of whom were out thought and outfought this week by the might of Whitley Bay in the Senior Cup.

We can only repeat our long-held view - at full strength we're sub-standard, especially in the defensive department. There isn't a left back at any level in the club and our striking cover is similarly non-existent. 

The failure to let Luque leave remains utterly inexplicable - a clear case of mixed messages from chairman and manager, the former who of course had nothing to do with the signing and the latter who would seemingly rather register himself to play than send the Spaniard onto the field. 

Midfielders continue to sustain this side, be it Solano in defence (surely returning from suspension to oust Carr at Craven Cottage) or the goals of Dyer and Milner. However we still remain dependent on Butt for solidity and graft.

After battling through to get to January, we seem to have taken a position that the worst is over and that the inadequacies of the squad that saw us tumble out of the FA Cup have now been righted by the return of Duff, Carr and Bramble. Hogwash. 

We now have a minimum of fourteen games to see whether this will prove to be Freddie's folly or a footballing decision based on sound practice. 

We now seem to have just about enough points to stay up, but that's hardly an achievement.  A European place? now that would be worth writing home about, but this is where we came in last July - knowing Chopra, Shearer, Ameobi and Owen would not be part of our plans for the season.

Roeder was lauded last year for shaping the mess left by Souness into a seventh-placed side. A year on though, are we really any further forward than continually boasting about not making excuses for having a crop of injuries?

We needed bodies - instead we're still saddled with dummies - on and off the field.

Biffa