Charlton Athletic 2, Newcastle United 0.

YESTERDAY'S game at the Valley was preceded by a performance from the Bootleg Blues Brothers, but when it came to music cataloguing pain and loss, there was nothing artificial about the subsequent tunes that emanated from the battle-scarred Newcastle supporters crammed into one end of the ground.

As some of the most loyal supporters in the country have discovered to their cost yet again this week, nobody does the blues quite like Newcastle United.

Still reeling from Thursday's insipid UEFA Cup exit to AZ Alkmaar, Glenn Roeder's side duly produced an equally anaemic display to slip to an all-too-predictable Premiership defeat at the hands of relegation-threatened Charlton.

Having marginally shaded an uninspiring first half, the visitors were a beaten side once China international Zheng Zhi exploited some typically slack defending to head the Addicks into the lead nine minutes after the interval.

Jerome Thomas' 88th-minute penalty confirmed Newcastle's tenth away defeat of a season that is limping to a dismal and dispiriting end, and further underlined a lack of drive and ambition in the opposition ranks.

For the second time in the space of four days, Newcastle's players lacked the spirit needed to overcome opponents who battled for success far harder than they did.

The fall-out from Thursday's traumatic UEFA Cup defeat explained the visitors' listlessness, but it did nothing to excuse a performance that provided a worrying portent of what is likely to come in the final eight games of the season.

Unless Roeder can rouse a group of players that appear less and less motivated with every match, the current mood of unease will have turned into a full-fledged mutiny by the time the Magpies travel to Watford on the final weekend of the campaign.

This week's European exit has cultivated a seething resentment and, for once, the fans' ire has been directed at the players rather than Roeder or Freddy Shepherd.

Damien Duff, who played as an emergency left-back yesterday - surely an admission that Roeder erred by asking the inexperienced Paul Huntington to perform the role against Alkmaar - is living on borrowed time as far as those of a black-and-white persuasion are concerned.

Titus Bramble does not even have that luxury and, after a succession of last chances, Thursday's defeat could well have proved terminal for the 25-year-old.

Bramble was nowhere to be seen as Danny Koevermans headed in Alkmaar's all-important second goal last week, and he was equally inconspicuous with his non-playing substitute role yesterday.

The former Ipswich defender was supposed to be starting a new round of contract talks with the St James' Park hierarchy this week. Given that he was dropped in favour of veteran centre-half Craig Moore at the Valley, any offer of a new deal may already be in shreds.

Not, however, that Newcastle looked any more secure in Bramble's absence. Oguchi Onyewu might not make the same elementary errors as his centre-half rival, but he appears no more able to marshall the defenders playing around him.

Onyewu returned to the side after being ineligible for the trip to Holland and, for the first half at least, the American was untroubled. His relaxed demeanour owed more to Charlton's shortcomings, however, than his own side's qualities.

Despite having put four past relegation rivals West Ham in their previous home game, Charlton bore the hesitant look of a team knowing their next mistake could be their last. Newcastle, however, never looked like exploiting their insecurities.

Passes went astray in every area of the field, but while Newcastle enjoyed a surfeit of possession as a result, the visitors rarely looked like troubling Scott Carson in the Addicks' goal.

Scott Parker flashed an early long-range drive wide, James Milner drilled a similar strike over the crossbar, and Antoine Sibierski dwelled long enough for Souleymane Diawara to rob him after a slick interchange between Duff and Kieron Dyer had looked like sending him clear.

Beyond that, though, the opening 45 minutes was a morass of mediocrity, with Charlton's only opportunity of note a 25-yard free-kick that Talal El Karkouri fired harmlessly wide of the right-hand upright.

A failure to feed Darren Bent was at the root of the home side's problems, but that was addressed by Alan Pardew's decision to replace the ineffectual Marcus Bent with the far more influential Dennis Rommedahl at half-time.

With Rommedahl and Thomas hugging the flanks, Charlton were much better balanced after the break, but the game might still have been different had an ineffectual Obafemi Martins taken the only opportunity that came his way three minutes after the restart.

Emre's drive cannoned into the Nigeria international on the edge of the six-yard box but, with the goal at his mercy, Martins screwed his shot wide. Tellingly, the 22-year-old hardly touched the ball again during the remaining 40 minutes.

Newcastle paid for the African's profligacy within five minutes of his miss, as Charlton exploited some all-too-common hesitancy at the heart of the Newcastle defence.

Milner was penalised 25 yards from goal, Darren Bent rattled the crossbar with a fearsome free-kick and, as Newcastle's defenders stood and watched, Zhi advanced untracked to head home the rebound from the penalty spot.

Thomas almost doubled Charlton's lead on the hour mark, curling in a left-wing cross that eluded everyone before Shay Given tipped it around the post, and the former Arsenal winger was again involved as the hosts came even closer midway through the second half.

Given produced a superb reflex save after Darren Bent met Thomas' cross at the back post, but Zhi blasted another rebound opportunity into the stands.

While Newcastle's second-half performance warranted absolutely nothing, they were unfortunate not to receive an undeserved lifeline in the 75th minute when Kieron Dyer's pull-back from the byline appeared to strike El Karkouri on the hand as he slid in to challenge.

Referee Dermot Gallagher kept his whistle away from his lips on that occasion, but the Banbury-based official was blowing for a penalty at the other end two minutes from time.

Solano pushed Zhi in the back as the China international surged into the box, and Thomas calmly side-footed the ball past Given to haul Charlton to within four points of safety at the foot of the table.