Portsmouth 2 Newcastle Utd 1

PORTSMOUTH: James, Lauren, Primus, Campbell, Stefanovic,O'Neil, Davis, Hughes, Taylor, Mwaruwari (LuaLua 73),Kanu (Kranjcar 90).
Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Pamarot, Mvuemba.

NEWCASTLE UTD: Harper, Solano, Taylor, Moore (Onyewu 30), Carr,Milner, Butt, Emre, N'Zogbia (Carroll 46), Duff (Luque 81),Martins.
Subs Not Used: Srnicek, Babayaro.

Att: 20,165

All season Shay Given has suggested Roeder should have made more of the summer and January transfer windows if United were to get back into European place in the Premiership. But the Irish international took no part (due to injury) in this fixture as Portsmouth maintained their drive for a UEFA Cup spot with goals from Benjani Mwaruwari and Matt Taylor.

Newcastle had only scored once in six games yet could have been two up in the first three minutes.

David James had to push over a shot from Martins and the home defence went missing again from the resulting corner, only for unmarked Craig Moore to scuff his intended volley across goal.

But Redknapp's side took the lead in the seventh minute due to the persistence of Benjani, who dug the ball out of his feet after Taylor's pass found him in the area. He held off Moore and Steven Taylor before turning to rifle a low shot past Harper.

The setback seemed to spread panic through the Newcastle defence and in the 16th minute Kanu latched onto a Lauren cross and sent a fierce drive crashing against the underside of the bar.

However the Magpies almost scrambled an equaliser in first-half injury time as Lauren cleared Martins' header off the line.

Pompey doubled their lead with Taylor's strike just before the hour. James' long kick was headed back only as far as Taylor 30 yards out and he unleashed a fierce left-footed drive that bounced in the area and rocketed past Harper.

Newcastle came back into it when Emre struck from the penalty spot on 68 minutes. Emre beat James to his left after Milner had brought the ball down in the area and been tripped by Dejan Stefanovic.

Another poor defeat to a side we know have less skill in their side than Roeder's squad, and I for one, must agree with Redknapp when he says the Toon manager has under-achieved this season. No longer can Roeder blame injuries for the lowly position ... the players in the squad SHOULD be producing more than they do.

Is it THEIR fault ... or Roeder's?

You tell me.