ANGRY Sir Bobby Robson last night sympathised with Newcastle United supporters after his side's FA Cup exit at First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers.

And Robson admitted that he hopes his under-performing team are feeling as depressed about the result as he is.

Wolves - four points adrift of a play-off place in the league - outplayed the Magpies in the first half and more than matched them after the restart.

Robson said: "The city of Newcastle will be as sick as I am and I hope the players are as sick as that. I am not happy with certain things and I've told the players what I needed to say.

"This defeat has cost the club dearly and I am very upset about it because the FA Cup means a lot to this club."

Skipper Alan Shearer slammed many of his teammates - without naming names - after the match and Robson revealed tensions were running high in the Molineux dressing room.

But, although disappointed, the Magpies chief insists his side will bounce back with so much to play for between now and the end of the season.

He said: "We are all angry with each other, there are players spitting blood in the dressing room and I'm glad they are. But we are fourth in the Premiership and we have to forget about the FA Cup now, it's gone.

"We have the Champions League now to play for and people will say we are still in the race for the title."

But Robson praised the way Dave Jones' Wolves side got the better of Newcastle.

And the St James' Park chief believed his side deserved to go two goals down so early on in the game.

Robson said: "I am more than disapointed because it's a savage blow. You have to give credit to a fantastic Wolves display.

"They worked exceptionally hard and it's probably their best performance for weeks.

"We wasted 45 minutes of football and we were fortunate to go in 2-2 at half-time.

"The second half I would say we played better but we have still come back in and we have lost the scond half one nil. We have gone at them in the second half and they have made a few goalline clearances. The one after Shearer's free-kick was amazing."

Robson was far from pleased with the way his side conceded three goals.

And he admits he is perplexed at the way his side have not won on their travels since early December at Aston Villa.

"We talk about our away form and defending every week and we work hard on it," he said. "We discuss it and we seem to get a response from the players. But we have conceded three goals away from home again.

"All three goals have come from the back post and that's not good enough. We've allowed someone to come in at the back post on all three."

Skipper Paul Ince was quick to hail his Wolves battlers, but admitted his doubts about Newcastle's penalty. ''That was pretty exciting,'' he said.

''We rode our luck, but because of the way we worked and the determination we showed, we deserved the result.''

Shearer levelled from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time after Lescott had been adjudged to have pulled back Bellamy.

Ince added: ''We lifted ourselves and felt a bit harshly done by with the penalty.

''He got in front of Bellamy, who went down very easily. We felt harsh about it, but showed great character and strength. The lads were furious about it, but the gaffer told us to keep playing the way we had in the first half and we got the third goal. We could have had four or five - it was a great day.''

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