Newcastle 0-1 Blackburn

Mar 2 2008

GUTTED Kevin Keegan believes his side have forgotten how to win after another devastating defeat left them facing a relegation dogfight.

The Newcastle boss watched them plunge deeper into crisis last night after a late Matt Derbyshire strike sealed a cruel defeat for the Magpies.

Keegan has failed to win a single match since his return to the club and they now hang three points above the bottom three after a dire run.

He said: "Confidence is low but we must not allow this to knock us. I feel really sorry for the players.

"They've forgotten what it feels like to win and we need to change that. If we play like that all the time we won't have problems.

"They were magnificent but got caught out with a late sucker-punch."

Newcastle could have wrapped the game up easily with Alan Smith and Damien Duff wasting great chances.

But it was Michael Owen who was guilty of the worst miss, rounding Brad Friedel only to fire across the goal.

And Blackburn made them pay right on 90 minutes when Derbyshire ran clear of a static defence to rifle home.