NEWCASTLE 0 BLACKBURN 2

Newcastle finished yet another disappointing season at home with yet another disappointing defeat at St James' Park, which culminated with supporters calling for chairman Freddy Shepherd to leave the club.

In an insipid game between two medicore sides Blackburn shaded the honours and headed back to the North-West with three points after netting a goal in each half through Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts.

The match marked the first return in a black and white shirt since December 2005 for Michael Owen. But his presence was not enough to end the club's barren five match run without scoring at home.

Rovers took the lead in controversial circumstances when Stephen Warnock crossed from the left and a clearly offside McCarthy headed home from a central position after 14 minutes.

United had several opportunities to level but failed to find the net.

Both skipper Scott Parker and Michael Owen were both guilty of missing gilt-edged chances in the first half.

Parker shot tamely at Brad Friedel from 12 yards after good work from Owen and James Milner. Then Owen blazed over on the stroke of half time from 16 yards after Friedel parried a Solano cross.

Owen nearly levelled in the 68th minute when he latched on to a through ball. The England striker managed to round Friedel but his fierce shot from the angle was superbly headed off the line by Christopher Samba.

The visitors increased their lead following good work by David Bentley down the right hand side, and he picked out and Jason Roberts who converted from six yards.

The home side continued to huff and puff but a weak shot from Obafemi Martins seven minutes from time was the best they could offer after that.

The players remained on the pitch to applaud the 51,226 supporters with the exception of Stephen Carr who stormed down the tunnel immediately after the game, despite manager Glenn Roeder telling him to remain on the pitch.

The support was a mixture of cheers and boos - very generous considering the performance.

At the end of the game supporters remained at the Milburn Stand players entrance and chanted 'taxi for Roeder', 'we want Shepherd out' and calls for Alan Shearer.