AS John Gregory pounded the streets of London yesterday, no doubt doing his best to avoid TV presenters, he must have spent around four hours reliving those two moments from Saturday afternoon that just about finished off the Rams' run in the top flight.

The Derby boss was taking part in the London Marathon less than 24 hours after seeing his side throw away a two-goal lead, and the chance of a win that threatened to throw them a Premiership lifeline. Derby lost 2-3.

But Gregory's loss was definitely Bobby Robson's gain as a welcome three points - only Newcastle's second win in their last seven Premiership games - meant a further seven points from their last four games would guarantee a Champions League spot.

Harsh would be an understatement to describe the home side's luck with Nolberto Solano apparently offside when setting up both Kieron Dyer's equaliser and Lomana LuaLua's winner.

And Gregory - never shy to pass on his opinion - certainly gave referee Rob Styles, and his assistant Andy Martin a piece of his mind.

So much so that he was given his marching orders by Styles after the equaliser, and accused Martin of "incompetence".

While all that was going Newcastle simply got on with the game and were as good for the last 20 minutes as they were poor for the opening 70.

Robson, though clearly delighted with the win, was far from happy with the two-goal lead his defenders allowed the Rams to take early in the second half.

He said: "We have to work better off the ball - we have to defend better. Their first goal we had three on three and they still put in the back of the net.

"Our three defenders against their three forwards should do better in that situation. We have to work at that.

"Our defensive work is not good enough to win titles."

The first half was a largely forgettable affair with only a Laurent Robert 30 yard special, which Andy Oakes did well to push onto the bar, to lift the vocal away fans' spirits.

As the second half kicked off it appeared a single goal either way would be enough to decide the game.

Within a minute the impressive Lee Morris and Branko Strupar had exchanged passes on the left.

Morris broke into the box and cut the ball back for Malcolm Christie to steal in at the near post ahead of Sylvain Distin, and steer the ball wide of Shay Given.

Shearer then has a goal disallowed and a shot cleared off the line before Newcastle's frailties at the back were once again exposed on 52 minutes.

Former Magpie Warren Barton - who along with Rob Lee was awarded a generous reception from the 4,000 plus visiting fans prior to kick-off - strolled forward unmarked and was given time and space to pick out Morris on the left edge of the box, who cracked a first time volley past the helpless Shay Given.

Derby's second shot on target of the afternoon and second goal.

Drastic action was necessary and Robson took it soon after replacing the ineffective Carl Cort with LuaLua.

Soon after Cort's departure Newcastle lost their second striker when a clash of heads left both Alan Shearer and Lee laid out on the turf.

The two friends - who by an unfortunate irony were known as the blood brothers at Newcastle - have no doubt been known to share a bottle of wine in the past, but the only claret on show was not of the Bordeaux variety.

The blood poured from both players' heads and the ugly, but purely accidental collision, forced the duo from the field.

A suspected broken nose could now force the Newcastle skipper into waiting until next season to celebrate his 200th Premiership goal.

Robson said: "He's got a nasty cut and his teeth look as though they need attention. He's cut three ways but he didn't want to come off.

"But the stitching was going to take too long. It needed a 15 minute job and because it was his face it has to be right.

"I think his nose is fractured and he could be out for a couple of weeks."

While the two were off the field Newcastle piled the pressure on the Rams defence and got their reward.

A harshly awarded free-kick on the left side corner of the box on 73 minutes for a foul on Dyer was lashed home by Laurent Robert at the near post of a somewhat bemused Oakes. Lee returned after seven minutes of treatment just in time to witness Newcastle's equaliser.

His first action was an attempt to re-open his freshly acquired stitches by trying to head the ball from a corner. But the ball was never cleared and Gary Speed released Solano to cross for Dyer to slide home.

The fact that Solano was clearly offside appeared irrelevant to assistant referee Martin.

With a quarter of an hour left there was still time for Newcastle to hit the woodwork twice through Robert and substitute Jermaine Jenas, and Derby to miss two glorious chances to grab a winner and lose their manager from the dug-out.

Substitute Fabrizio Ravanelli fired over when unmarked eight yards out, and then Strupar missed from the same distance.

With full-time approaching the assistant linesman decided to rub salt into the home fans' wounds by missing another offside when Dyer fed Solano on the right.

His cross this time was bundled home by LuaLua for his first Premiership goal. As celebrations of first Premiership goals go the Congo DR internationals triple flip - with an almost perfect landing - will be hard to beat. Eat your heart out Peter Beagrie!

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