To borrow a line from the "Blowing Bubbles" anthem of the home side, "fortune's always hiding" - and in this case our owner was forced to lurk in an executive box - a far cry from the beer-swilling centre of attention in the away section on our last visit to London only three weeks ago.

Mike Ashley may have had a better view than the vocal away following on Saturday, but regardless of whichever aspect this game was seen from, it made for painful viewing.

A nervous side who had recently jettisoned their boss looked frightened and frail once the opposition scored - but still won 3-1. And for the second successive Saturday, we lost to a profoundly ordinary side who took a slightly fortunate lead, but then remained in the driving seat to collect maximum points with something to spare.

Having handed Hull and the Hammers three points each is hardly a help in our quest to remain afloat, but those fans in black and white who trudged away could take some solace in the fact that we weren't playing a decent side.

Certainly had Newcastle been up against a team enjoying form and confidence, then Chris Hughton could well have been joining his caretaker predecessors Nigel Pearson & Steve Clarke in steering the side to a heavy away defeat. 

As it was, Gianfranco Zola and the aforementioned Clarke had the gentlest of introductions to life in E13, as polite applause and sunny conditions were followed by a fortunate early goal to set them off and running.

A deflected first and a dreadful second left us two behind before half time here for the second season running. Unlike last April however, there was to be no positive response from the visitors - partly due to the absence of Martins, Viduka and Beye, who had all played their part last time.

Between the first and second goals there had been hints of a Magpie revival and again leading up to half time, as N'Zogbia played a couple of searching cross-field passes and the returning Duff saw some possession down the left.

Of Xisco there was little however, while Owen was being forced to drop back into the pedestrian midfield area, where Butt, Geremi and Cacapa were all deployed - and outplayed by old boy Parker. Yes, we were that slow.

Chris Hughton and Richard Money chose not to make any alterations to their side at half time and things again went the same way - Owen heading into the goalkeeper's hands before West Ham broke and Etherington potted a third, from Di Michele's cross (actually a scuffed shot).

A well-taken effort from Owen did reduce the arrears, by which time Bassong had replaced the floundering Edgar, but Cacapa toiled on until the closing stages before Gonzalez appeared (this delayed entrance later explained as being due to a hamstring problem the Uruguayan has).

With half of the second period remaining and the score at 3-1, the complexion of the game changed following Owen's effort as Newcastle and their fans came alive and the Hammers were quiet on and off the field.

Weak shots on goal from Duff and Cacapa though were to be the sum total of our response, while at the other end Boa Morte missed a one-on-one chance to make it 4-1.

In the final analysis, failures across the field saw us rightly beaten, with the willing but limited Carlton Cole causing the defence problems by the simple expedient of "putting himself about a bit". Shola, can you hear me.

And it's no coincidence that what positive play there was came when N'Zogbia was able to get out of defence and leave that dreaded left back slot - something that he obviously has issues with and which causes his team mates problems when the Frenchman plays there.

Certainly relying upon Geremi and Duff for creative passes isn't a road to riches - with only Owen as any sort of target for their passes or crosses from the flank.

In the short term, the only positives to look forward to are the return of Martins to inject pace and more of the strong forward runs that Gutierrez showed pre-injury.

As much as anything else though it's the two full back slots that are threatening to cause ongoing problems though, with the Beye and Enrique injuries betraying the paucity of genuine choices we're left with.

And as for the midfield, if ever there was an opportunity for Barton to come in and live up to all those words about showing remorse and repaying people for their faith, then it's towards the end of the month - he could be crucial to maintaining that unbeaten wearside record on his scheduled comeback.

Conversely though, he could just join the ranks of the disillusioned at SJP, who see their futures elsewhere post-KK and will count down the days to January 2009.  

Back to the owner though, whose dreams of enjoying football matches as a fan have faded and died as much as the value of this club is diminishing by the hour. Much more of this and the Sports Direct advert on the Gallowgate End roof will have a '70% off' swing tag on it - never mind £480m, it may soon be a case of 'no reasonable offer' refused.

Only the continued ineptness of Spurs kept us from bottom spot as our next opponents were held at home by Wigan, but that came as cold comfort after this Hammer horror show.

Biffa