Newcastle tend to have new eras like a year has new moons. But at least they now have a manager who can manage rather than one merely trying to cope while all about him lies in disarray.

Bobby Robson's task is threefold. First he has to be a plumber, repairing a defence which has been leaking like a colander. Then he will have to undertake a spot of carpentry in order to give the team a durable framework, and on top of that there will need to be some interior decorating as certain positions are filled by better players.

In his first match since succeeding Ruud Gullit, Robson made some early progress on the plumbing front. Restricting Chelsea to a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge offered encouragement to a side which had conceded 17 goals in its five previous matches. Less encouraging is the continuing gloom of Newcastle's league position.

Pulling Newcastle around is going to take time, but even now Robson is short of that commodity. He desperately needs to win his first home game, against Sheffield Wednesday, the bottom club, next Sunday. The result of that match will determine the true brightness of this latest dawn.

For the moment, on the evidence of one difficult away fixture, Robson is entitled to feel that he can arrest Newcastle's present decline. On Saturday, he reorganised the shape of the side by playing three at the back with a sweeper and five in midfield, and managed to deny Chelsea a shot on goal until the 37th minute when Frank Leboeuf's penalty followed Gary Speed's challenge on Celestine Babayaro.

The foul was the result of a free kick from Gianfranco Zola, who had won it by throwing himself across Warren Barton's challenge. Justice of a sort was done when the referee, Graham Poll, refused Chelsea a second penalty on the stroke of half-time after Barton had clearly tripped the little Italian. Then it was undone again on the hour when Ed De Goey, the Chelsea goalkeeper, took out Kieron Dyer.

Newcastle felt they had played well enough to earn something from the afternoon. That was debatable, but they played with sufficient spirit for Robson to talk up the performance in terms which, if not exactly glowing, were warmly optimistic.

Chelsea: De Goey, Ferrer, Desailly, Leboeuf, Le Saux (Poyet 57), Goldbaek (Petrescu 46), Wise, Morris, Babayaro, Sutton (Flo 68), Zola. Subs Not Used: Hogh, Cudicini. Booked: Wise, Leboeuf, Ferrer. Goals: Leboeuf 37 penalty.

Newcastle United: Wright, Barton, Dabizas, Goma, Domi, Dyer, Speed, Lee (Maric 77), Solano (Hughes 87), Shearer, Ferguson (Robinson 73). Subs Not Used: Harper, McClen. Booked: Solano, Barton, Dabizas, Dyer.

Referee: G Poll (Tring).