20 mins Remy Cabella's clever pass sent Emmanuel Riviere charged down the left and although his right-footed cross wasn't the best, Ayoze Perez took advantage of Jordi Amat's hash of a clearance to slot the ball into the Leazes net from close range. 1-0

45+2 mins Nelson Oliveira was able to head home Gylfi Sigurdsson's corner, his marker Jonas Gutierrez ending up on his backside allowing Benfica loan forward Oliveira to head the ball down and bounce up into the top corner for his first Premier League goal. 1-1

Half time: Magpies 1 Swans 1

49 mins Tim Krul's poor clearance was helped on by Jack Colback but only found Jonjo Shelvey midway between the area and halfway line. The Swansea lynchpin won a tackle and set Jefferson Montero away down the left hand channel. 

With Daryl Janmaat out of position, his low cross bisected Ryan Taylor and Mike Williamson, reaching Sigurdsson as he ran away from Gutierrez and giving him a routine finish. 1-2

71 mins Jack Cork was able to walk the ball home after more soft shoe shuffling from home defenders allowed him and Oliveira to exchange passes, the final cross going between Williamson's legs for Cork to tap home. 1-3

87 mins A fine controlled volley from substitute Siem De Jong got him off the mark for the club as Colback's cross from the left dropped over the Swans' defence and was guided home. 2-3

Full time: Magpies 2 Swans 3

John Carver:

"I thought we started the game quite well in a different formation. We played some good football and could have come in at half-time two-nil up. I felt we were in control of the game, but my one worry was set-plays because that is our achilles heel, and they scored from a corner.

“We then conceded an early goal in the second half, which drained our confidence.

“It’s disappointing, but I can’t really fault my players’ effort. We’ve got four massive games now and we’ll keep fighting. It was a huge disappointment, a huge disappointment - but we are not ready to quit, not ready to pack in, not ready to thrown in the towel. That is very important, and that applies to me and the rest of my staff.

"Yes, I am getting stick from the crowd* and I can take all that. I'll take that on the chin, I'll explain to people why I do things, I don't have a problem with that. 

"If anybody wants to talk me about it, I will talk to them about it. But I won't give up on it and I will fight to the end.

"I have got to try and make those guys feel 10 foot tall, as much as I can. Sometimes it is quite difficult, but it is my job and my responsibility to try and pick them up and do that."

two sugars?

*two fans in the Milburn Stand confirmed that they'd been verbally abused by Carver after comments were aimed at him. Carver acknowledged the incidents, but denied that he'd sworn or acted aggressively. That's in contrast to similar events at Southampton in September, when he admitted that he'd "responded inappropriately" to fan abuse and subsequently received a club fine.

Northumbria police confirmed that they'd received no complaints. A separate accusation of criminal negligence against Vurnon Anita is under consideration by the CPS (Crown Posada sippers).

Subsequent Carver quotes:

"When I took the job I knew this was the most pressurised situation outside the top six. I don’t care what anyone says, it is.

"Obviously everything has gone against me and it has not been easy but sometimes it is quite difficult to actually stand in that technical area and get abused the way I was abused without any protection from the sidelines. 

"That is the reason I moved back (into the dugout) - I am not going to stand out there and be abused during the game. The football club has got to do something about it.

"One of the lads actually said to me ‘are you threatening me?’. I said ‘no, come and see me afterwards and I’ll explain to you what I'm trying to do’." He obviously thought I was. There was no way in the world I was doing that. I did that once before (before the Southampton away game), and I said then I’d not get involved in something like that again, and I ain’t.

"They expect me to put the ball in the net, stop the headers going in, stop the opposition from scoring. I can’t get on the end of the corner and head the ball clear, which would have kept us 1-0 up at half time. I can’t do that (unfortunately neither can your defence).

"That is the first time I have had that – just totally getting abused throughout the second half. No one should put up with that. We have got stewards there, and some of them just watch the game.

"I’d like to see those two guys again and explain to them why I have had to do what I have done. I think if they sat with me and understood where I was coming from they would understand the whole situation, but when they are blaring at you for 45 minutes it is very difficult."

(It has since been confirmed that the two fans in question accepted invitations to watch the team train at Darsley Park and meet Carver ahead of Saturday's visit to Leicester City.)
 

Garry Monk:

"I want more, always push for more. I just knew if I could get the players to commit to the hard work I have asked them to do from the start of the season that we could get to something like this.

"It's a hard road to get to there, but I am always the type that will demand more - they know that, the players and everyone at the club, so my job now is to make sure that we finish the season with some more wins, if possible, and more points.

"There's no point in just beating the record, you want to try to surpass it and make it difficult for anyone to catch us or for us to surpass it again next season - that's what I'm trying to lay down now.

"They have got quality players. Newcastle have the quality, for sure, and John (Carver) is doing as good as job as he can and pushing the players, and they will be fine."
 

Newcastle sit just five points above the relegation zone, having played one game more than half of the teams below them, after Swansea City made it seven defeats in a row for a side that is rapidly sinking into quicksand and barely struggling to save themselves.

Not since the player-led rebellion of the 1977/78 season has a Magpies side recorded a septet of league losses, as the hitherto inconceivable threat of a second relegation in just seven seasons now seems only too real. And even in that dark time, some slight relief came in cup ties between league losses - meaning that this current run is genuinely uncharted territory in the modern era.

Fifteen games in 2015 have seen United register just nine points from a possible 45, a ten point lead over the third bottom side now halved. Rated at 100/1 to go down recently, that's now 18/1.

And how many of this current setup deserve to be representing us next season, regardless of the division we find ourselves in? Not many on recent evidence, reducing further the chances of those still under contract leaving - who else would be bonkers enough to employ them?

Richard Dinnis and Bill McGarry were the men who failed to save the sinking ship when United were relegated in 1978 and John Carver is the one desperately trying to rearrange the deckchairs this time round. 

To date though he's found himself hamstrung by a set of players firmly in a losing habit, ruining their reputations with a series of disorderly and meek displays. And off the field, an ongoing vote of no confidence from his own folk is starting to influence his increasingly erratic public comments.

The visitors came north after an ear-bashing from their manager following a careless defeat at Leicester on their last outing and weren't much better here today, taking almost 45 minutes before belatedly realising how poor their hosts were and upping their efforts slightly. That was enough. 

This latest submission was all the more worrying in that Ayoze Perez had given his side the lead to cap a positive start for a side showing two changes from that brushed aside by Spurs: Jonas Gutierrez and Emmanuel Riviere included at the expense of Mehdi Abeid and Yoan Gouffran.

Riviere almost doubled the lead just before the break when he headed powerfully from 18 yards but Lukasz Fabianski was able to tip the ball around the post. That miss quickly became pivotal though when some awful defending in first half added saw Nelson Oliveira head home from a corner.

Worse was to follow during a desperate second period that saw the visitors carve open the home defence and score twice more through Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jack Cork to confirm Swansea's third consecutive victory on Tyneside and send more spectators to the exits.

Only late volley from substitute Siem de Jong from Colback's cross gave United hope of what would have been an undeserved comeback, prompting those remaining to rediscover their voices. It was all in vain though, Fabianski barely tested and the game ending with Tim Krul up for a corner and attempting to punch the ball in. Almost predictably though, he failed to make any connection...

Another eerily quiet crowd witnessed this latest demise - our fourth successive home defeat - but protests inside the ground were largely limited the 34th minute, at least until turning a 1-0 lead into a 1-2 deficit prompted renditions of "get out of our club" and "we're sh*t and we're sick of it."

Saturday's trip to Leicester - who were relegated as spectacularly as Newcastle in 1978 - is now absolutely crucial to our future, but a Foxes side now out of the bottom three thanks to four successive wins will doubtless approach that task with relish and confidence. 

Nigel Pearson hasn't been name-checked up until now on Carvers list of former colleagues, but he and Sam Allardyce could hold the keys to his and our future, assuming Tony Pulis keeps his lot on track and Les Ferdinand doesn't do his old side a favour. 

Unlike the abysmal FA Cup display a few months ago when Carver had just taken over from the departing Alan Pardew, defeat at the King Power Stadium simply isn't an option. If the lack of belief in the stands is mirrored in the dressing room though, we may as well not bother turning up.

Blame can rightly be directed at the owner, his staff, the head scout and the coaches, but ultimately those on the field have to be accountable and are collectively failing in their duty. 

Never mind last year's prolonged dip in form, echoes of 2009 are becoming more and more evident (and what price Kevin Nolan to send us down?) Martins? Cisse. Duff?Anita. Coloccini? Coloccini....

Michael Owen's assertion that we won't win another point looks more realistic by the game - and when it comes to recognising gutless quitters, there's few better qualified than him.

Biffa/Niall