Newcastle 0 Blackburn 1

Mar 2 2008 by lynsey richardson, Sunday Sun

WHEN you are staring down the barrel, it doesn’t do to pull the trigger.

Not if you want to survive the worst.

And, make no mistake, the worst could now very well befall Newcastle United.

Matt Derbyshire, proud new father of twins, may have delivered the goal which prolonged Kevin Keegan’s labours.

But that Blackburn’s last-minute winner was the result of an act of defensive suicide will leave the Magpies manager feeling as pained, helpless – and frightened – as a mum-to-be denied an epidural.

And what went before it – Michael Owen spurning three glorious chances to ease raw Geordie nerves – may cause Keegan to wonder if the Gods have decreed that his second coming is to be a stillbirth.

There was certainly something fateful about the key role of Brad Friedel, who Keegan would have signed for Newcastle first time around but for work permit problems, in denying Owen and United the points.

Having seen Owen waltz past him but miss an open goal in the first half, the evergreen American goalkeeper produced two stunning saves after the break to leave the England striker bereft.

And although Newcastle were a better proposition going forward than at any time since Keegan’s return, their defending was gung-ho long before Derbyshire was allowed the freedom of the city to provide the sting in this tale.

Even if Owen finds his shooting boots for his return to Anfield on Saturday, the fear is that Torres and co will fill theirs better.

The Magpies were nigh on irrepressible at times yesterday, finally managing to maintain momentum beyond the opening 20 minutes.

James Milner had much to do with that, as he tore into Rovers from the off. And just kept coming.

The game had barely begun before he got away down the right and provided a cut-back for Damien Duff.

But the Irishman’s finish was deflected - at an agonising snail’s pace – inches wide by the lunging Andre Ooijer.

Alan Smith, keeping his place alongside another divisive figure, Joey Barton, was in on the act too, seeing two headers – the first a looping effort, the second a more powerful attempt which flashed inches wide – go close.

Having provided the cross for Smith’s second chance, Milner then fired wide himself from 30 yards.

All that in the opening nine minutes.

And if there was a short, subsequent lull, it was broken by a vintage moment from Owen.

He skipped past Zurab Khizanishvili on the edge of the Blackburn box like the player of old, then picked out Duff to his left for good measure.

Sadly, the Irishman’s finish - with the goal seemingly at his mercy - was a snatched effort which was going wide before Morten Gamst Pedersen’s eye-catching block.

Thankfully, Ooijer was also wasteful when gifted a chance which he stabbed wide.

But the game’s next, most glaring miss was a bigger surprise.

Sent clean through by Barton, Owen rounded a hesitant Friedel to leave both fans and team-mates in frenzied anticipation.

But his finish, albeit from an awkward angle and on his wrong foot, was dragged across the face of an empty goal.

The reaction of Steve Harper – Shay Given’s deputy falling to his knees and dropping his head to the turf – spoke volumes.

But the keeper at least saw a 44th-minute header by Khizanishvili flash wide, then combined with Abdoulaye Faye to block yet another Ooijer effort on the stroke of half-time.

And rather than the now customary let-down, the second half immediately looked an inviting prospect.

Smith foxed Chris Samba with a sharp turn to open up space for a wayward shot which betrayed his desperation to find the net.

Owen saw a couple of efforts blocked by last-ditch lunges.

Bums were off seats.

And that was before, in the 56th minute, Friedel began his one-man assault on Owen’s sanity.

Nicky Butt – having brilliantly engineered himself space on the right edge of the box – produced the perfect cross.

Owen, having ghosted between right-back and centre-halves, produced seemingly the perfect header.

Friedel, flying high to his left, produced an even better save.

Frustration turned to disbelief six minutes later.

Sent racing through on Friedel again – again, by Barton – Owen this time opted to shoot.

But while his sidefooted effort was sure, so too Friedel’s reaction in sticking out his left leg and deflecting it wide.

Keegan then sought to maintain momentum by throwing on the long-absent Obafemi Martins, to huge acclaim, for Butt.

But although a stretched game was seemingly tailor-made for his pace, Martins proved more headless chicken than ruthless hit man.

Apt really, as plenty others lost their heads amid a bizarre 80th-minute bust-up.

Having refused to release the ball to Pedersen for a Blackburn throw, Habib Beye levered the Norwegian into an unwanted embrace, prompting both dug-outs to empty, baseball-style.

Sanity finally having been restored, the Newcastle right-back was lucky to share Pedersen’s fate of a yellow card.

Before that, the introduction of Charles N’Zogbia – dropped to the bench for the returning Jose Enrique – had seemingly given United another lift, with Owen going within inches of converting a cross by the Frenchman.

But when Beye’s composure went, so too his side’s.

A warning delivered by Santa Cruz – the Paraguayan denied by the legs of Harper in a one on one – went pitifully unheeded.

As the clock ticked towards 90, Newcastle went kamikaze at an attacking set piece, leaving Bentley to pick up Pedersen’s clearance and find Derbyshire steaming free as a runaway express through the middle.

This time, courtesy of an emphatic finish into the bottom left-hand corner, Harper had no answer.

Despite five minutes of injury time, neither did Newcastle.