Football: Darkness sets in as the knight returns

AS Sir John Hall entered the directors' box at The Dell yesterday he offered Newcastle's travelling supporters a regal wave and a clenched fist. It seemed to be a signal of unity, that they were all in it together at a club desperately seeking points and boardroom stability after recent shenanigans. What followed was a demonstration that it may need rather more than their charismatic returning chairman if Newcastle are to steer clear of the mess in which they at present find themselves.

It was an error-strewn match full of misplaced passes and fury which signified that in the space of a year Newcastle, who once illuminated the Premiership despite a lack of silverware, are now merely another team. Not a particularly good one either on the evidence of their attempt to record their first away victory against Southampton for 26 years. They were fortunate to take the lead barely two minutes into the second half - the goal almost inevitably resulting from a mistake of the wish the ground could open up and swallow you variety - and if the two goals they later conceded were partly down to ill-luck, they were also the architects of their own misfortune. There was, as ever it seems, the little matter of the Southampton goalkeeper, Paul Jones. He prevented Newcastle taking a possibly decisive two-goal lead with a superb reaction save to his left from Alan Shearer's fierce close-range shot. It was as crucial as it was spectacular.

Sir John was reluctant to comment afterwards beyond saying that the lads had fought hard but Kenny Dalglish, the manager, was slightly more expansive. Unhappy at the penalty three minutes from time which cost his side a point, he still felt that if the players continued to perform as they had they would turn the corner. True, there had been, at least, no shortage of purpose in their play.

In the formative stages, Newcastle responded positively to the sight of their returning chairman. Keith Gillespie might have given them a lead in the second minute but his carefully placed shot was not precise enough. Robert Lee had a clearer chance after eight minutes but shot well wide and Jon Dahl Tomasson a still better one shortly after but failed to get a chip over a stranded Jones.

Southampton had begun to assert the authority of their league position by half-time but two minutes after it Jason Dodd left a back-pass to his goalkeeper lamentably short. Jones had no chance of reaching the ball and Lee anticipated well as he ran on to it, rounded the flailing goalkeeper and did the rest with ease. The equaliser came in equally bizarre circumstances when Newcastle failed to clear a corner properly. After going hither and thither, the ball appeared to fall at the feet of Stuart Pearce some two yards from the line at the right-hand post. Somehow, in attempting to clear, he managed to scoop the ball into his own net.

There was only one winner after that and Southampton duly claimed victory. It was a goal that corresponded with all that had gone before it, exhibiting the shortcomings of players and officials in tight situations. Matthew Le Tissier's shot was clearly handled on the line by Aaron Hughes. There was a short delay at this point while the referee Graham Barber consulted with his linesman. A penalty was eventually awarded though Hughes escaped further punishment in the form of an obligatory sending-off apparently because they could see his hand, but not his face. Le Tissier blasted home his habitual penalty.

Dalglish, in characteristically droll form later, questioned the award and the lack of a sending- off. He might do better to pose some questions of his team.