ROB Andrew continued to look on the bright side of life after witnessing his Newcastle team's steady decline take them to the edge of the abyss yesterday.

A fifth successive defeat, three of them at home to fellow strugglers, left the Falcons adrift at the foot of the Premiership and wondering where the next win is coming from.

But Andrew said: "There was not a lot wrong with the performance in terms of spirit and skill in the second half and if we continue to play like that there is every chance we can get out of trouble.

"They scored three opportunist tries from ball we turned over and in the second half I thought we were the only team trying to play rugby.

"We were a bit nervous in the first half but at 15-12 I felt certain we were going to win until we gifted them another try.

"We have had 12 games but we have ten left and each one becomes more critical. This would have been a great one to win. Bristol are a good side and we didn't lack anything in comparison with them today."

Andrew was being kind to his team, who showed few signs of emerging from the doldrums as they were outplayed in the first half and trailed 15-6.

Again looking rudderless without Jonny Wilkinson, they created few chances and all their points came from the boot of Liam Botham, while Bristol's right winger Brendon Daniel scored a hat-trick of tries.

The Falcons did well enough in the tight, but rarely managed any continuity with players such as centre Tom May unable to recapture last season's form.

But it did seem they might pull the game out of the fire when the gap came down to three points and there was a strong suspicion of a Bristol knock-on just prior to Daniel seizing a loose ball to race 35 metres for his crucial third try after 60 minutes.

Newcastle tried hard to come back and looked dangerous when Michael Stephenson and Jamie Noon found enough space to show their paces.

But the vital pass usually went astray and a number of wrong options were taken by their young half backs, Hall Charlton and Phil Godman.

Godman was given his first Premiership start at fly half in preference to Earl Va'a, who returns to New Zealand today. But for all the youngster's promise the Samoan's greater experience might have proved the better bet in such a big game.

Godman often tried something akin to the Ali shuffle in an attempt to wrongfoot the defence, but it achieved little when he would have been better advised to ship out the ball as quickly as possible.

As their stadium continues to develop, there was further concern for Newcastle as only 3,273 fans turned up to watch a team whose steady decline began with the defeat by London Irish.

Some of the crowd took the opportunity to get on the back of visiting captain Garath Archer, the former Falcons lock, whose querying of the referee's decisions looked destined to earn him yet another yellow card.

New hooker James Christian looked a solid performer for the Falcons but was replaced early in the second half by Matt Thompson, and Andrew confirmed that he hopes to announce two more new signings before the next Premiership match at London Irish on December 29.

Godman put in a superb tackle to halt powerful centre Darryl Gibson in Bristol's first threatening attack, but it was Gibson's strong break which led to the first try.

Initially it stemmed from Archer peeling off a line-out and after Gibson made 30 metres, Daniel was left with a similar distance to cover after new England winger Phil Christophers provided the link.

In Va'a's absence Newcastle handed the kicking duties to Botham, whose scuffed first effort from 20 metres wobbled over the bar.

But despite missing with the last kick of the match, which would have earned a bonus point, Botham had a better success rate than Argentinian fly half Felipe Contepomi, who landed one penalty out of three for Bristol and kicked one of the three conversions.

Botham did much better with his second from 40 metres just before half-time to create a flicker of hope shortly after being left flat-footed as Daniel collected a neat chip ahead by full back Shane Drahm to scorch over.

After a strong break by Hugh Vyvyan straight after half-time, Botham was narrowly off target from halfway, but then struck from just outside the 22 and again from 35 metres.

Then Daniel's third try came out of the blue midway through the half, rubbing salt into wounds which will take a lot of healing.

Result: Newcastle Falcons 12 Bristol Shogums 20.