Liverpool? Nothing To Fear!

Newcastle dashed Craig Bellamy's hopes of a winning return to St James' Park as they fought back to snatch victory.

It all started so well for Liverpool after Bellamy made the most of an error by goalkeeper Steve Harper - the man whose slip at Anfield allowed Xabi Alonso to score from his own half back in September - to give them a sixth-minute lead.

Bellamy tormented the home defence on a pitch drenched by torrential rain before the break as the club which was this week the subject of a successful £470million American takeover threatened to run riot.

However, a mistake from Harper's opposite number Jose Reina handed Obafemi Martins the chance to level with his 12th goal of the season after 26 minutes, and Nolberto Solano snatched the points with a 69th-minute penalty.

Reds boss Rafael Benitez was left to rue missed opportunities as the home side rode their luck, but Glenn Roeder will have been delighted with the way his side scrapped their way back into the game and then defended for dear life in front of a crowd of 52,305, their biggest of the season.

Referee Mark Halsey inspected the pitch at 1.15pm and was quick to declare the surface playable, although by half-time, several of the 22 men who started the game might have questioned his decision.

One way or another, it was inevitable that Bellamy's return to St James' Park for the first time since he was unceremoniously dispatched by then manager Graeme Souness, would not pass without incident.

He did not even need to touch the ball for fans who had once cheered his efforts to boo him roundly, but he answered them in the best possible style within six minutes, with the help of former team-mate Harper.

The goalkeeper never looked comfortable as he prepared to clear a back-pass on the rain-soaked pitch, and he duly shanked the ball straight to Jermaine Pennant, who slipped past Celestine Babayaro and squared for the Welshman to sidefoot home.

Steven Taylor handed Bolo Zenden a chance to make it 2-0 seven minutes later when he left his back-pass to Harper woefully short, forcing the keeper to make a vital save as the Dutchman tried to round him.

However, the Magpies got themselves back on terms after 26 minutes as Harper's opposite number Reina added his name to the list of sinners.

Kieron Dyer's intelligent pass inside Daniel Agger allowed Martins to race away from the defender and, although Reina spotted the danger early, he blasted his clearance into his own man and the striker slid the equaliser into the empty net.

But Bellamy might have completed a hat-trick before half-time as a Newcastle defence in which Oguchi Onyewu was making a home debut found his pace and movement simply too hot to handle.

Harper had already saved a 20-yard shot from the Welshman at full stretch when he twice came within inches of adding to his tally on 34 minutes.

First Bellamy rounded the goalkeeper from Pennant's pass, only to see Titus Bramble block his effort off the line, and then Harper deflected another effort on to the crossbar as the Magpies rode their luck.

Harper saved again from Zenden nine minutes before the break, and it was the home side who were the more grateful to hear the whistle.

But it was they who started the second half in a much more positive frame of mind as Liverpool, for the first time in the game, found themselves having to defend deep.

However, the Reds might have restored their lead on 53 minutes when Dirk Kuyt left Nicky Butt for dead with a delicious turn, only to then toe-poke his shot across the face of goal.

Martins blasted a long-range effort well wide and Dyer picked out Steve Finnan rather than a black and white shirt after getting in on the right side of the penalty area on 63 minutes.

But the home side forced their way in front after 69 minutes in the most unlikely fashion.

Full-back Steven Taylor showed remarkable poise to dance his way into the box, where he was tripped by John Arne Riise, and referee Halsey pointed to the spot.

Nolberto Solano stepped up to send Reina the wrong way and stroke his penalty into the bottom corner.

Benitez responded by making two substitutions as Danny Guthrie and Alvara Arbeloa replaced Bolo Zenden and Pennant, and his side immediately launched a late push.

Liverpool had Newcastle camped inside their penalty area as they forced a series of free-kicks and corners, but Harper and his defenders dealt admirably with a series of dangerous balls into the box to see out a late flurry.

Liverpool kept the pressure on Manchester United in the race for automatic Champions League qualification as 10-man Newcastle were defeated at St James' Park.

Trailing 2-0 long before half-time after Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard - with his 18th goal of the season - had struck, the Magpies fought back to go into the interval just one behind at the break courtesy of Shola Ameobi's header.

But their hopes of a comeback were ripped apart within seven minutes of the second half when Jean-Alain Boumsong was dismissed for a foul on Crouch inside the box and Djibril Cisse converted the penalty to increase the pain.

French defender Boumsong will now miss Wednesday night's FA Cup quarter-final trip to Chelsea, while a second successive Barclays Premiership defeat and a first for caretaker boss Glenn Roeder at St James' Park confirmed their recent revival is over.

Referee Mike Riley left the north-east to a chorus of boos from the bulk of the 52,302 crowd, which included England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, but in truth, Newcastle had been well beaten by a side brimming with confidence having at last rediscovered their scoring touch.

Writing in his programme notes, Roeder emphasised the importance of scoring the first goal in a Premiership game after his side's disastrous start at Manchester United seven days ago, although it appeared his players had not taken the message to heart.

The game was only 10 minutes old when Newcastle were hit by a sucker punch when 6ft 7in Crouch was allowed to get between Boumsong and Peter Ramage to head Jan Kromkamp's deep cross past the helpless Shay Given.

It was not so much the fact that the visitors deserved to be in front after a lively start which will have annoyed Roeder, but more that they went behind to the most obvious of ploys.

However, his concerns were to mount as the visitors, playing with Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia and Daniel Agger in a back three with Kromkamp and Stephen Warnock operating as wing-backs, dominated.

They were slick and progressive in possession and miserly in defence as they got men behind the ball when they lost it, stifling the Magpies in midfield to leave goalkeeper Jose Reina largely untroubled.

It took the home side more than 20 minutes to fashion a meaningful opening, skipper Alan Shearer blasting wide from 20 yards and then youngster Charles N'Zogbia giving Reina a scare with a shot which he needed two attempts to claim.

However, just as the home side started to look like the might force their way back into the game, they fell further behind.

Shearer appeared to have been fouled as the Magpies attacked the Liverpool penalty area, but Riley, who had previously blown repeatedly for niggling incidents, allowed play to continue, and the home side were punished with devastating effect.

Cisse's cross was chested down to Crouch by Gerrard, and the striker laid the ball off first time for his England team-mate to fire it unerringly past Given.

It looked, just as it had at Old Trafford last week, like game over, but with four minutes of the half remaining, Ameobi gave his side hope.

Having found himself on the wrong end of a series of offside decisions, he timed his run to perfection to meet Scott Parker's cross unopposed and head firmly past Reina.

Newcastle emerged for the second half determined to drag themselves level, but their hopes were dashed within seven minutes.

Boumsong missed his kick when trying to clear ahead of Crouch and compounded the error by bundling the striker to the ground inside the box.

Referee Riley pointed immediately to the spot and to rub salt into the wound produced a red card.

Cisse stroked the penalty home to make it 3-1 and was promptly booked for over-celebrating, and he was spoken to once again within minutes for appearing to gesture towards a section of the home fans.

The 10 men battled bravely for a way back into the game, Celestine Babayaro wastefully slicing a 62nd-minute cross over the bar after being played in by Nolberto Solano.

Roeder replaced Ameobi with Kieron Dyer on 62 minutes and Crouch departed for Luis Garcia within seconds.

Cisse might have made things worse for the home side, but sliced wide in 65 minutes, and Luis Garcia failed to make the most of a similar position four minutes later.

Given spectacularly denied first substitute Xabi Alonso and then Kromkamp as time ran down, but both saves were by then irrelevant.

Newcastle midfielder Laurent Robert fired himself further into the affections of manager Graeme Souness with a superb winning goal against Liverpool.

The Frenchman beat debutant goalkeeper Scott Carson with a searing 71st-minute free-kick to clinch a fifth successive win for the Magpies, as injuries and the mental scars of last Sunday's Carling Cup final defeat took their toll on the Reds.

It was a win the hosts deserved after working very hard to break down a well-organised Liverpool outfit, who had only one real effort of note on goal - a 43rd-minute Luis Garcia shot which dropped on to the roof of Shay Given's net.

Newcastle's remote hopes of clinching European football next season received a boost as Souness finally had a 1-0 win to celebrate - while the visitors' attempts to catch derby rivals Everton in the final Champions League berth suffered another blow.

There were boos at half-time as the players left the pitch, not for the first time this season at St James' - but on this occasion, they were directed solely at referee Howard Webb.

He has not been a popular man on Tyneside since the day in November when he took charge of the Magpies' Premiership clash with Fulham and made two controversial decisions as the hosts lost 4-1.

Webb again angered the home supporters by allowing defender Mauricio Pellegrino to get away with all but one of a series of fouls on Alan Shearer.

Then he brandished the yellow card at Amdy Faye and Robert - while Pellegrino and his team-mate Igor Biscan escaped similar punishment.

Jean-Alain Boumsong and Titus Bramble dealt admirably with the lone threat of Milan Baros, who appeared to have some difficulty staying on his feet - while a Liverpool defensive trio of Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher and Pellegrino allowed Shearer and strike partner Shola Ameobi no leeway in the first half.

The visitors were content to try to smother the Magpies in the middle of the field and attack on the counter - although they were more successful in the former than the latter.

Newcastle needed a spark, and it came belatedly in the shape of Robert and Kieron Dyer as they worked their way into the game from wide positions.

It was the Frenchman's 23rd-minute corner which dropped to Lee Bowyer - and when his left-foot volley was blocked by Biscan Bramble hammered the rebound high over.

Ameobi headed over from a Stephen Carr cross eight minutes later. But Carson did not have a save of any note to make before the break - and his opposite number Given was similarly under-employed.

Bramble almost ruined his afternoon's work within three minutes of the restart when, as he tried to play his way out of defence, he gifted the ball to Baros but immediately retrieved the situation by winning it back.

Robert continued where he had left off, whipping a swerving left-foot shot from distance wide of Carson's right post a minute later - and Luis Garcia did just the same at the other end on 52 minutes to maintain Given's interest.

Dyer in particular was having a growing influence. But Newcastle were in need of something different, and Souness tried to introduce it with 67 minutes gone when he replaced Ameobi with Dutchman Patrick Kluivert.

The answer finally came in the shape of the enigmatic Robert, after Pellegrino had been penalised for a foul on Shearer.

The Frenchman has had to work hard to force his way into Souness' plans. But what has never been in any doubt is his ability from a dead ball - and his dipping, swerving free-kick sped past Carson.

Rafael Benitez withdrew Vladimir Smicer in favour of Antonio Nunez, and Souness sent on Jermaine Jenas for Bowyer as time ran down - but the home side were defending confidently.

Kluivert had a glorious opportunity to cement victory in the final minute of normal time but dragged his shot just wide after mesmerising Carragher.

But Steven Gerrard wasted an equally good chance to equalise in injury time.