Half time: Newcastle 0 Fulham 0

54 mins Emre crossed the ball in for Scott Parker to head home from six yards at the Gallowgate End. It looked like he was baulked just as he made contact, but did well not to be put off. 1-0

82 mins Wayne Routledge attacked down the right and an unfortunate slip from Peter Ramage allowed a cross that went straight across the six yard area and Brian McBride thumped in an accurate drive at the far post. 1-1

89 mins A left wing corner found Brian McBride unopposed and after his header hit the crossbar, Carlos Bocanegra bundled the ball in from close range. 1-2

Full time: Newcastle 1 Fulham 2

Glenn Roeder commented:

"Two individual mistakes have cost everyone the points.

"We can't let despondency creep in. The goals change people's opinions but we played very well during the game. 

"We passed the ball well and we would be having a completely different conversation if we had won 1-0. I know there are enough players out there who played very well today.

"We have to accept the crowd's reaction but I thought it was minimal and it was directed at the manner of us letting goals in, not the 90 minutes.

"I am well equipped to pick the team up, which is my job."

Chris Coleman said:

"That was a bit of a shock to the system, to be fair. 

"We have had a difficult start - Manchester United away, Bolton and Sheffield United home and then to come here, we go to Tottenham next week and then we have got Chelsea.

"It does not get much harder than that. It was important we came here - it was not so much about the performance - we had to go back to London with something."
 

Stats

Fulham won only their second Premiership game on the road in 2006 - even the mackems managed to beat them last season. Successive defeats for Glenn Roeder, although he did manage four in a row last term.

Waffle

A question for those who booed at the end or flounced out when Fulham got their winner:

What were you upset with: the result, the performance, the players or the manager?

I'm not attempting to take the moral high ground here, I'm just wondering why people didn't boo at the end of the Wigan game as well. It was only the result that was different and it seems a bit odd to boo a result.

I remember thinking the win against Wigan wasn't exactly met with huge cheers and dancing in the aisles, but to my mind these games were almost identical - at times spookily so.

Scott Parker capped a fine captain's performance by glancing in a header to gives us the lead in both games.

Back came the visitors with a decent finish from a McSomeone, thanks to some dubious defending on the right side of our penalty area. The away side then looked the more likely to win. So far the same script.

This time, though it was Fulham and not us who stunned their opponents with an undeserved winner in a game that neither side could justifiably claim all three points.

My reaction to both was minimal. I couldn't get overly worked up by either performance or result.

Some players shone, some players stank and sometimes we knocked the ball around quite smartly but there was very little end product from any of the three sides playing Premiership football at St. James' so far this season.

Parker was again outstanding and to see him limp from the field was just as much of a blow as the Fulham equaliser that followed soon after. This current side without its new captain is something not even worth contemplating.

Damien Duff once again threatened and does look a class act but he hasn't really clicked with his team mates yet - particularly his striking colleagues.

Emre was his usual mixed bag but his cross was perfect for Parker's goal and even on an off day he'll get stuck in and be a nuisance to the opposition.

I thought Craig Moore had a fine game at the back - he's certainly making up for his lost months, so much so that part of me even thinks his injuries might have been genuine after all.... Even Titus looked solid at times although he's guaranteed to go missing at the vital moment and so it proved later. His long passing was also a bit erratic, best summed up as he shaped to hit a raking ball by a shout from behind, "Mind the windaas".

Peter Ramage did well last season before looking like a Reserve out of his depth. Unfortunately in this game he looked like a Reserve out of his depth. And when he slipped on his backside to let in the cross that led to McBride's volley he had the look of a man that knew it - it was the same look he had at Old Trafford last year.

My Stephen Carr fan club membership lapsed a long time ago but to be fair to the useless chubby, headless chicken I thought he had a decent game. Until Ramage slipped over that is... Where was he when McBride hammered in his far post volley? In the middle watching the ball fly across the six yard area along with three of his colleagues.

Bramble's ability to watch opponents head a ball from corners didn't escape him and when the header crashed down from the bar Bocanegra was lucky - and definitely not offside - to be on hand to bundle the ball in to seal our miserable fate in this contest.

And so what about our exciting brand new strikers I hear you ask? Well, to a few people's surprise Ameobi was fit enough to start and last the full 90 minutes so the Martins-Rossi combination wasn't seen in this game. Shola's contributions were fitful at best although he was certainly our most potent force up front.

What can be said about Giuseppe Rossi and Obefami Martins.... One replaced the other after 72 minutes and between them I can't remember a single shot at goal. I think Rossi only touched the ball once and was instantly fouled.

Now you could argue that was the fault of those around them, providing no ammunition at all. 

You could also point out that both are short of first team fitness and one of them was recovering from a "serious dead leg" whatever that may be. You could also argue it's early days, they are still finding their feet, there is more to come from them, they need to adjust, etc. etc. 

You could argue all of that....

You could also argue that Mr Martins put in one of the most inept, clueless and woeful displays that the famous number 9 shirt has ever witnessed. 

He wasn't particularly fast, his first touch was poor, second, third and fourth touches weren't much better, strength on the ball non-existent. A less equipped player for Premiership football is hard to imagine (Lord I hope I eat those words). And you know what, I think he was trying.

Those in the North East corner will have painful memories of one individual bellowing "Wake up Nigeria" over and over again in a bizarre soliloquy but you couldn't argue with the sentiment.

He left to a standing ovation, Martins that is not the orator, which had to be a mixture of relief and early applause for Rossi. Albert Luque must have been wondering how this £10m signing had quite earned such a fabulous send-off.

Of course they must be given plenty of time to show us what they've got - Charles N'Zogbia looked awful in his first reserve game at Molineux and he's now quite rightly one of the best players we've got. He wasn't too far behind Parker today.

The boy/man Martins is a worry, though. Perhaps he'll upstage the Argentineans at Upton Park and grab a spectacular hat-trick. Stranger things have happened.

But to return to the earlier theme, I couldn't get suicidal over the throwing away of the three points. Both home games deserved to be draws, so to have three points is probably still one more than we should have.

However, just three points after three kindly opening fixtures is disappointing to say the least. They yielded seven last season. Still, we're a point ahead of Arsenal.

Niall Mackenzie