Blackburn Rovers 2, Newcastle United 2: "Please watch your footing as you leave; it's very icy tonight and the pavements are extremely dangerous," said the man on Ewood Park's public address system. It might have been a veiled message for Graeme Souness, who, judging by the venomous booing he received from the Darwen End, needed to mind his step as he left east Lancashire.

Rovers fans blame their former manager for embroiling them in a relegation dalliance but Newcastle's manager can hardly draw solace from his new public, many of whom are already debating the date of his anticipated sacking.

But Souness refused to be ruffled. "I've seen lots of old friends," he insisted. "It was a difficult game though. Our defending wasn't great - same old story there. We conceded two poor goals and allowed Blackburn to dominate long stretches."

The catcalls were confined to the end of the match. At the start Souness had given the Newcastle fans something to cheer and ponder. After daring to criticise Souness's managerial skills, crowd favourite Lauren Robert - already accused of "laziness" by his new boss - was, against all odds, selected on the left by the Scot, who rarely forgives such transgressions.

And Robert's contribution compensated for any loss of managerial face. Having used his left foot to create a goal for Kieron Dyer, Robert re-employed it to score Newcastle's second. "You can't diminish Laurent's impact," said Souness. "It was a great pass for Dyer's goal."

That beautifully weighted dispatch was seized on by Dyer, whose impeccably-timed run left him one-on-one against Brad Friedel. On too many similar occasions the midfielder has miscued but this time his low right-foot shot evaded Friedel's reach.

Newcastle, though, appear incapable of retaining leads and Rovers swiftly equalised, Barry Ferguson's free-kick picking out the unmarked Paul Dickov, who swivelled adroitly before shooting past Shay Given.

Ferguson and Garry Flitcroft were making central midfield life tough for Dyer and Jermaine Jenas, highlighting just how much the loss of Nicky Butt has debilitated the Tynesiders.

Jenas, Newcastle's stand-in captain, was up against Flitcroft, who after being stripped of the Blackburn captaincy by Souness claimed this was "the biggest game of the season for me".

Unfortunately such emotion got the better of Flitcroft, his foul on Dyer prefacing a yellow card - and a 30-yard free-kick. Enter Robert, whose precise delivery into the bottom corner was too good for Friedel.

Not that it took Blackburn long to restore parity. The second half had barely begun when Given spilt Ferguson's 25-yard shot and Andy Todd lashed the close-range rebound high into the net.

Guardian Service