Half time:  Newcastle 1 Norwich 0

50 mins A Robert corner from the right fell perfectly for a diving Aaron Hughes to power into the net. 2-0

52 mins Bentley was allowed to run towards our box, largely unopposed. His shot was decent but should never have beaten Given, who dived on top of the ball which squirmed from under him into the Leazes net. 2-1

74 mins Fleming's shot was well saved by Given but Doherty followed up to tuck in the rebound. Despite initial feelings that there were a couple of offsides in the move TV replays confirmed that it was a perfectly good goal (for them, that is...)  2-2

Full time: Newcastle 2 Norwich 2

Sir Bobby Robson said:

"The chairman has not bothered me today because I have had a football match to prepare for, but I do know that Manchester United have made a bid for him as well.

"All I can do is try to persuade Wayne Rooney to sign for Newcastle United and the chairman will deal with the business side of things because that is his job. We are still working to bring him to the club, just as we are working to bring a new centre-back to the club."

"We are naturally disappointed because we should have not allowed a two-goal lead to disappear.

That should not have happened, but we were still the better side and we still should have won the game.

"I honestly thought we would get that third goal. We've dropped points, but we should not panic.

"I cannot criticise the players too much because they were fighting to the end to get the third goal. Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy both dragged chances wide, while their goalkeeper made two good saves to deny Alan Shearer and Lee Bowyer."

"Shay has apologised, but he shouldn't do. He has never done anything like that in six years. 
[Err, Bobby's obviously forgotten the Chelsea gaffe]

"We share in his disappointment and we stick together. He is suffering, but he will pick himself up as we will do.

"It was a bad time for them to score. If we had settled down at 2-0 we would have been far more comfortable."

About Dyer:

"He is not fully fit, but he will be fine.

"He has only played one game of 90 minutes since the end of last season and that was the pre-season friendly against Rangers.

"He will get stronger."

About Bellamy's public outburst:

"What Craig Bellamy should do is to honour his contract, all right? That is what he should do. At the moment he is doing too much talking.

"He had a bit to say yesterday and he has signed a new contract to play for Newcastle United Football Club. Honour your contract, Craig Bellamy. Honour your contract like everyone else has to and just concentrate on playing and scoring goals for this club.

"If Bellamy is publicly saying that, then I am publicly replying to him face-to-face. What does he want to do? Does he want to be manager or does he want to be the player?

"He is doing very well. That is why I am saying `Hey Craig, just enjoy your football and score goals. He has done well but he cannot make threats to the club."

Craig Bellamy had said:

"If Wayne Rooney comes I will have to review my position because I am not sitting on the bench anywhere."

Alan Shearer told the Chronicle: "I think it would be great if we signed Rooney.

"He will be a fantastic asset and a great investment for this football club.

"It would be a great coup for the city and for the club if we can attract him here.

"If he is thinking about going abroad to Real Madrid or whatever then he can do that in four or five years time. He is only 18 and he is still effectively learning his trade.

"He will only be 22 or 23 in four years time so he's got plenty of time on his side and I think it would be a great step for him."

"Obviously it's all up in the air at the moment. Yes he would put my place under threat. It would put everyone under threat. So what?

"If he can come in and do well, then great. It's always been the rules of football if someone comes in and does well, you support him and say well done.

"We are all in it for this football club and if Rooney comes in and improves us, then we are all for it and I am 100% behind that.

"If we can get him it would be brilliant."

A distraught Shay Given said:

"I have to take the rough with the smooth, and unfortunately this was one of those nights where I've made a mistake that has proved costly."

"There's no getting away from that, and I held my hands up to the guys in the dressing room straight after the game.

"I think I was in two minds when the shot came at me. I didn't know whether to parry it or catch it, then I saw a lad running in so I tried to hold it. I should have kept it out, but it's one of those things and that is one of the perils of being a goalkeeper I suppose.

"At that stage of the game we were comfortable, having just gone 2-0 up. It was looking like our first win was on the cards, but they got back into it with that goal.

"As far as the second goal is concerned, I got my hands to Fleming's shot and after that it's just luck where it goes.

"Unfortunately it went straight to Gary Doherty who pinched a point for them. I'm sure he'll be giving me stick with the Republic next week.

"The overall feeling is one of disappointment because while we haven't lost the game, we know we should have won.

"We had a great home record last year, but this time we've lost one and now drawn one, and three games into the season we're already playing catch up."

Norwich boss Nigel Worthington said:

"I was disappointed to be 1-0 down because we knew Newcastle started quickly and I just asked the players to go out and max them on that and from minute one, the work-rate was very, very good."

"The quality of passing was something I was stressing, especially after Saturday, and I was delighted with that.

"At 2-0 down, Norwich never ever give up and there was always a chance.

"The momentum was with ourselves. We limited Newcastle, we got blocks in and we got bodies in the way and then when we did get out I thought we moved it up the pitch very quickly and very well.

"It was a great point but it could have been three."

8 games since a victory
9 games since a clean sheet
Many moons since victory beers

David Bentley's goal was Norwich's 50th against Newcastle in league and cup.

Three games in and writer's block already - not good.

This game marked the fifth anniversary of the mackem monsoon - and considering it took this author a week then to transmit any of his thoughts via a keyboard, then we're doing quite well to get this online misery out scarcely 48 hours after the non-event.

Two home games in four days; three hours of opportunity to impress over 100,000 people (plus millions watching on TV) and what did we get - Bellamy doing a passable impression of a dog chasing his tail, while some other of his so-called team mates stood around contributing less to proceedings than most of the inert, stunned home fans slumped in their seats in apparent disbelief.

If there was one saving grace to this game and the Spurs one, it was that we weren't playing proper teams. 

Perusal of our fixture list before the start of the season gave rise to some optimism that we would have a comparatively stress-free start to proceedings, allowing us the chance to start off on the right foot for a change, rather than the back foot as usual.....

But, like the season that saw Gullit walk the plank, our self-inflicted wounds saw us fail to take points when they were there to be picked up - then it was Wimbledon we threw away a two goal lead against, this time it was similarly unfashionable but equally workmanlike Norwich.

In the event, we've just managed to scrape two points from a possible nine - two more than we would have probably have got if a more difficult set of opponents had been lined up. God knows what Chelsea, Arsenal or Man U would have done to us - another of those home rodgerings like Fergie's lot gave us a couple of years ago might have finished Bobby off.....  

We also acquired a point despite surrendering a two-goal advantage and that for nearly one whole minute we occupied the so-called comfort zone when two ahead. Of course reality then intruded very quickly, courtesy of Given's excusable error. But while we owe him several hiccups given his steadfast service over the seasons, for the rest of Bobby's merry band, goodwill is in distinctly short supply.

There wasn't much good, so we'll move straight on to the bad and the ugly.

Kieron Dyer. Refuses to play on the wing for Bobby in his hour and a half of need on Smogside. Now less than a fortnight later he gets hold of a central midfield slot by default after Jenas and Bowyer aren't deemed fit to start alongside Butt. 

And how does he respond? How does how repay the fans who spared his blushes in his previous game by refraining from the Spanish tradition of hurling rotten fruit or at least shouting rude words that Match of the Day couldn't bleep out? 

Or for that matter the manager who got his barbed comments in on live TV, but then seemed prepared to forgive and forget for the greater good? By playing like a Tesco's carrier bag blowing in the breeze - never was the expression Northern Rock less well-suited to being emblazoned across the chest of a toon player. 

Just what unique combination of winds, tides, bad fettle, opponents or motivation does this toerag need to perform and produce? There may be some daft buggers managing clubs in this league (beginning with the letters B and P mostly) but there's surely nobody bonkers enough to take this clown off our hands - we may have to hope that the Tractor Boys make it up this year....  

But there were other criminals as well. For instance our French pair, who can swan back over la manche and star in a remake of Papillon with my heartfelt blessings if they believe their fitful contributions are sufficient to find a place in a post-Zidane era national side. 

We may as well have Ginola back for the contribution Robert is giving us (his corners weren't as flat as Laurent's at least), while Robbie Elliott should rightly be banging on Bobby's door and asking for a go at his preferred left back position as Bernard continues to do an impression of a man expecting a very important long-distance phone call.   

Of the new boys, we still cannot pass judgment on Kluivert, due to his being sighted about as often as Halley's comet, while Milner is understandably finding his feet in his new environment in the same way that his counterpart Ambrose was. 

Happily people seem to be seeing that and offering only sympathy to him. And while it seems to be generally accepted that Butt is a good thing in taking up the cudgels lain down by Speed, we have to confess that his first two home games for us haven't quite seen him in imperious fettle. Maybe things will improve when he finds himself playing in front of a defender with presence and a tongue in his head.... 

Carr so far, is what we thought we were getting and will bed down into a reasonable, pull no trees up honest type of player. As to how much better he is at attacking than Hughes, or less prone to injury or rushes of blood to the head than Griffin, only time will tell.

Let's go back to the manager, who just doesn't seem to be in charge of this particular entourage any more. He may waffle away on the goggle box to the delight of pundit and trouser bags of cash for more adverts, but is he really relevant to this football club in 2004?

Presumably he still picks the team, but it seems increasingly evident that the players at his disposal appear or disappear according to the whim of others - and with a clearly-defined end date now confirmed by the Chairman, Robson seems to be increasingly irrelevant to the side and incapable of alerting it to any positive effect. 

As we've seen before, that tends to be a one-way street at this club leading to a door marked exit. The self-perpetuating Bellamy aside, the only conviction showed by this squad this week has been the one Bramble picked up at Harrogate magistrates for doing over a ton on the A1. Robson has to carry the can for this, taking the plaudits as he does when everything is going swimmingly. 

Here again, the Welshman went about his task with a grim relish, but fell prey to the old microphone shoved under the nose trick as he dejectedly headed for the tunnel for the second time in four days. 

His comments about the Rooney circus were as pertinent as the concerns Ameobi had expressed earlier in the day, but they were enough to ignite Robson's anger - shame that he chose to bawl out Bellers in the media when there were plenty other candidates for a public tongue-lashing.  

So, we continue to misfire, to the utter frustration of Newcastle supporters everywhere, but worryingly causing not agitation among them, but resignation. It's not just morale in the dressing room that's being questioned, but also among the rank and file. 

It's all very well to say that we put up with an sight worse in times past, but that's partly because some of us are just loyal to the point of being daft. And times change, expectations are inflated - everyone has to be a winner or at least pay winner's wages - and admission prices. As James Brown said though, what about the payback? 

Bobby and the boys at present are overdrawn in the goodwill department as this season lurches from crisis to travesty to farce and back again. Can do better, must do better. 

Those natives still awake are restless and there's an increasing conviction that Robson lacks the motivational words or tactics to pull this thing around - whether that's his fault, Shearer's fault or Shepherd's fault is frankly immaterial - something better change. And fast.   

PS: If those Norwegians don't manage to get their precious painting back, they could always try and compensate by sticking photos of toon fans from this game on the walls of their gallery in Olso - tonight ours was a mostly silent scream, but for how long? 

Biffa

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