How to shoot yourself in the foot in spectacular style: Part 2

Trust Newcastle to end a run of eight straight away draws with a defeat rather than a win. And trust us to achieve this by committing defensive hari-kari late on for the fourth time in four away matches, at a cost of seven points which would, had we held on, have seen us sitting pretty in fourth.

Just when us fans might have been forgiven for thinking our brittle defence had blunted the potent Spurs attack to escape with a creditable away clean sheet, Andy O'Brien pops up four minutes from time to inadvertently supply the finish that Defoe and Keane couldn't muster themselves. Another kick in the teeth, and all the more galling because by all accounts we actually performed better than of late - but then I suppose it's just the wheel of fortune coming full circle, given the fact that in recent UEFA Cup matches we've been lucky to win and in the league we persist in playing badly but picking up fortuitous points. Incredibly we've only lost six league games all season - that was our first defeat since 28th December, and our first away defeat since 9th November. All those draws look like being costly.

The result sees us slip down to fifth, having been leapfrogged by Inspector Sands's Charlton - it's now imperative that we beat them on Saturday. The one consolation we and all the other clubs involved have is that no one team seems capable of putting together the run of results that would surely wrap it all up. This weekend Charlton, Spurs, Fulham and Villa all picked up three points, but ourselves, Liverpool and Fat Buddha's Birmingham slumped to defeat. Next weekend expect the pack to shuffle once again.