IF Sir Bobby Robson does a bit of bargain-hunting next month, don't expect him to go for Chris Perry - even though the Tottenham Hotspur defence would be cheap as chips.

Then again, after yesterday's bullet header into his own net, Nikos Dabizas may be worth little more than a Christmas tree sans needles.

Newcastle United have enough defensive problems without adding to them by bringing in a player that can spectacularly press the self-destruct button, as Perry did yesterday.

Unfortunately, Dabizas is one of those defensive problems that Robson cannot eradicate, more than three years after he first took over at St James' Park.

One might have expected the Newcastle manager to look at Dabizas, 29 years old and holder of more than 50 Greece caps, as the old head to guide his youthful defence through the Premiership minefield.

But Robson knows Dabizas is too fallible; too prone to making the sort of mistake that triggered a fraught final 17 minutes yesterday.

At Bolton Wanderers on Boxing Day, it was errors from the Newcastle midfield and the referee rather than ineptitude from the back four that cost them at least a point.

Here, it was Dabizas who was solely responsible for putting the result in doubt by scoring the sort of own goal that was patented by Everton's Sandy Brown three decades ago.

Of course, Newcastle weren't helped by the loss at half-time of Kieron Dyer and Nobby Solano that necessitated Aaron Hughes's move into midfield.

But the Magpies looked vulnerable before the interval, and it was down to good luck rather than good judgment that they kept a clean sheet in the first half.

Newcastle's frailties were first exposed in the eighth minute, when Robbie Keane embarrassed Andy O'Brien and left the defender on his backside.

Shay Given beat Keane's shot away then, just as he did when Mauricio Taricco was given far too much room to shoot from 25 yards out.

Hughes and Solano were involved in an animated post-mortem after that incident, but despite their good intentions Newcastle appear incapable of learning from their mistakes.

Gustavo Poyet had scored five times in as many games against Newcastle before yesterday - so what did they do?

Give him the freedom of the six-yard box, that's what, as Taricco swung over a cross from the Tottenham left.

It was only Given's razor-sharp reflexes that kept Newcastle's lead intact after Poyet had stolen in unnoticed.

To be fair to Newcastle, they dealt with the late bombardment well. Given commanded his penalty box and they hardly lost an aerial challenge.

But do not be fooled by the scoreline. Newcastle's need for at least one new defender remains acute.

Even an antique dealer could tell you that.