MOVE over Fulham and Liverpool, Newcastle United are coming through.

A comfortable, yet impressive, 3-1 victory for the Magpies in last night's battle for fifth place with Chris Coleman's side has put Sir Bobby Robson's men just four points behind fourth-placed Charlton Athletic in the Premiership.

A rare and early strike from centre-back Andy O'Brien set the tone for the evening, when he grabbed his first goal in nearly two years to put Newcastle on their way.

Shortly before half-time Welsh veteran Gary Speed piled the misery on his close friend Coleman, still coming to terms with the imminent departure of top-scorer Louis Saha, by heading in the home side's second.

And then enigmatic Frenchman Laurent Robert outrageously turned a Nolberto Solano cross beyond Fulham goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar with an exquisite and unconvential overhead flick not long after the restart.

Robert's latest wonder goal was his tenth of the campaign and it has already equalled his best goal haul for a season at the club since joining in 2001.

And not even a consolation strike from visiting midfielder Sean Davis could dampen the mood around St James' Park.

The priceless three points may still leave Newcastle a mammoth 19 points adrift of leaders Arsenal but a place among the exclusive Champions League Club again is certainly well within sight.

Robson, whose side travel to Liverpool in the FA Cup on Saturday, has now guided his team to just one defeat in 12 matches.

And it was that sort of form which made light work of a contest with a Fulham side whose own European dreams are fading after taking just a solitary point from their last six games on their travels.

Barry Hayles - scorer of Fulham's goal in the 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough earlier this month - was handed the unenviable task of filling the void left by Saha.

Saha did not make the trip to Tyneside as his proposed £10m switch to champions Manchester United gathered pace, despite Fulham's best attempts to retain his services.

The striker's decision to leave did not go unnoticed by the pocket of travelling supporters who held a banner stating: Saha you're a disgrace.

The loss of the former Metz striker, who spent time on loan at Newcastle during Ruud Gullit's reign, is a massive blow to Coleman's hopes of guiding his side to a European place in his first year in management.

Without the 15-goal Saha, it was always going to be an uphill struggle to earn a first away win since October.

And, with Newcastle buoyed by a goalless draw at Old Trafford in their last outing, this encounter was the perfect opportunity for Robson's charges to close the gap on fourth-placed Charlton.

The Newcastle chief - whose first managerial post over 35 years ago was at Fulham - handed Robert his 100th Premiership start and skipper Alan Shearer reached yet another milestone in his distinguished career by making his 700th senior appearance for club and country.

One thing Coleman would have dreaded before the start of the encounter was an early goal from the hosts to further deflate the spirits of his Saha-less XI.

But that is what arrived with less than four minutes on the clock when O'Brien pounced.

The centre-back, without a goal since March 2002, was on hand to turn a loose ball, after Shearer's effort from Woodgate's cut back was blocked, high into van der Sar's net.

It was the perfect start for Newcastle and they looked like grabbing a second soon after with the pace of midfielder-turned-striker Kieron Dyer causing giant centre-back Zat Knight allsorts of problems.

First, Dyer got round his marker on the left before his pin-point cross was turned marginally wide by the diving head of Olivier Bernard when he should have found the target.

And then a trademark Robert bullet was punched away from van der Sar after the England star won a free-kick after being brought down by Knight.

Fulham's plans were thrown into more disarray on 18 minutes when influential French midfielder Sylvain Legwinski had to be replaced by Moritz Volz following a tackle from Jermaine Jenas.

Ironically, though, this brought their best spell out of the Londoners as an attacking force and Luis Boa Morte fired into the side netting after Geordie Lee Clark - skippering the side for the first time against his old club - found the former Arsenal man at the back post with an inviting low cross.

But where Fulham were making strides in the final third, their defending was comical at times and Newcastle looked like scoring every time they ventured forward.

The crossing of Robert and Nolberto Solano was proving too hot to handle for Fulham and it soon led to the second goal through the evergreen Speed.

Before that Solano's effort on the slide - when he got on the end of Robert's wicked free-kick - was blocked by van der Sar.

But the expensive Dutch keeper could do little about the Peruvian's corner, Newcastle's sixth of the game, four minutes before the break when Speed rose first to extend the lead.

After the restart there was a clear determination from Newcastle to build on what they had started and just nine minutes in Robert added the latest wonder goal to his already glittering list.

Solano's dinked cross from the right was going behind the Frenchman. However, Robert's acrobatics somehow got his left boot to the ball and directed it beyond van der Sar's outstretched left hand.

With 16 minutes left, Fulham attempted to make a fight of proceedings when former Middlesbrough target Davis fired in off the woodwork to beat Shay Given.

But it failed to stop Newcastle going into cruise control and Robson cheekily withdrew the three stars of the show - Shearer, Solano and Robert - for the last six minutes.

Result: Newcastle United 3 Fulham 1.

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