JONNY Wilkinson kicked all Newcastle's points as the holders recovered from a dreadful first half to snatch a dramatic victory in the sixth round of the PowerGen Cup.

The lead had already changed hands in injury time before Wilkinson landed the decisive drop goal from 35 metres in the 84th minute.

The Falcons will now be away to Leeds in the quarter-finals on the weekend of January 19/20 and will hope to produce a better spectacle in the Headingley stadium.

In nine home games this season they have scored only 11 tries, partly because opponents know the way to play against them is to slow the ball down.

Nor are they helped by referees who refuse to allow the game to flow, and Roy Maybank was the latest of that ilk yesterday as he made a speciality out of penalising even the slightest obstruction.

With teams sharing the gate money in the cup, season ticket holders had to pay £20 to sit in the stands. This explained a disappointing crowd of just over 3,000 and there was no hint of cup tie atmosphere during a very poor first half.

Wasps led 11-3 and when they scored their second try a minute after the break it looked all over.

But Alex King missed a simple conversion, which was to prove costly, and when he went off injured shortly afterwards the Falcons began to get into the game.

One of their problems was that they were out-scrummaged and the sin-binning of former All Blacks prop Craig Dowd for blatant obstruction also helped.

The score was 19-15 when he returned, then Inga Tuigamala, who was not fully fit, finally began to make his presence felt.

He stole a ball in the centre, Wasps were penalised and although Wilkinson's penalty from halfway fell just short the visitors were guilty of obstruction on the restart and the gap came down to one point.

With four minutes left Gary Armstrong seized on a loose ball and quickly fed Tuigamala, who made good ground and forced another penalty, which Wilkinson landed from wide on the left to put Falcons ahead.

But in the third minute of injury time Scotland winger Kenny Logan thumped over a penalty from two metres inside his own half and Wasps were back in front.

With the late drama compensating for what had gone before, Wasps collected the restart and kicked to touch. But Falcons won the line-out and moved the ball swiftly to Wilkinson in midfield, giving him just enough space to land the winning kick.

"I didn't enjoy my performance at all," he said. "But I was proud of the way the team stuck at it when we could have given it up because it was one of those days when nothing would go right.

"In the first half we all dragged each other down because we weren't performing. We had to do it the difficult way."

His words were echoed by Rob Andrew, who said: "We were a bit nervy. Being the defending champions seemed to get to them and at half-time we told them to relax. It was a fantastic show of character and they are starting to show that in abundance."

The tone for the first half was set when Newcastle were penalised three times in rapid succession and from the third penalty, under the posts, King put Wasps ahead.

Wilkinson quickly replied, but he missed with two other first half efforts and also dropped a high ball as even he was afflicted by the general malaise.

There was much aimless kicking, with even the powerful Epi Taione joining in when there was no-one within 15 metres of him.

Wasps scored after 20 minutes when the Falcons scrum was in disarray and right wing Fraser Waters broke away up the blind side, rounding Tuigamala on a 35-metre run to the line. King added a drop goal then the referee awarded Newcastle a penalty instead of playing advantage just as they put Jamie Noon in the clear.

Straight after the interval King dummied through a static defence and passed inside for flanker Joe Worsley to score a soft try.

Skipper Pat Lam galvanised the Falcons with a surge up the left and when the ball was moved right winger Michael Stephenson showed his paces and Armstrong got to the line, only to lose the ball.

The tide had turned and Wilkinson struck from under the posts then from just inside halfway before Logan replied.

The Falcons were on top in the last 20 minutes, but even after Wilkinson's drop goal there was still time for King's replacement, Matthew Leek, to try to emulate his illustrious opposite number. His high kick hung left of the posts, forcing the alert Stephenson to scamper back and touch down, ensuring safety just as the whistle went.