Newcastle 3 - 0 Aston Villa

Despite an indifferent season, the Newcastle fans have flocked in their numbers to St James' Park - making them the second best-supported club in British football - a record that pays testament to their unswerving loyalty through trying times.

On Saturday, such support was finally rewarded as Newcastle pulled the final curtain down on yet another unsuccessful season with a comfortable 3-0 win over a Villa side seemingly pre-occupied by internal wrangles.

The win itself, soured only by the unnecessary dismissal of Welshman Gary Speed seven minutes from time following a spat with Villa midfielder Ian Taylor, looked never in doubt once Stephen Glass fired home in the early exchanges.

But the Newcastle fans have rarely been so flattered this season into believing that success is just around the corner.

Failing to even muster a shot on target until late into the second half Villa looked decidedly out-of-sorts.

"I take full responsibility for us going 2-0 down before half-time," said a disgruntled John Gregory.

"The team I picked was a bit adventurous and experimental and I got it wrong. I had to take David (Ginola) off just before half-time because we were being swamped down our left-hand side. If I hadn't done that we could have been three or four down."

Lavishly applauded by the home crowd as they paraded around the newly-chiseled stadium after the match to the frains of Local Hero, Newcastle have rarely performed to such a level worthy of appeasing their fans' flabby ambitions this season.

Their opinions on players vehemently dismissed by manager Robson and their intelligence insulted by the sun-dizzied dreams of their absentee chairman Douglas Hall, the Geordies will be praying that some part of their enthusiasm will rub off on their expensively-assembled team next season.

The signs are already there. The roughly-hewn figure of Carl Cort, scorer of Newcastle's second, looks a good buy, while young strikers Lomano LuaLua and Shola Ameobi showed touches of real class and could well play a part next season.

"I thought the performance today was stupendous," said Robson.

"I thought 2-0 at half-time we maybe relaxed a little and they came back into it. But I felt that that in the second half they never really troubled us."

He added: "I'm very proud of the fact that we gave the fans a nice farewell present. We deserved to win today and I just wonder where we might have been if Cort had not missed seven months of the season."

Newcastle opened the scoring as early as the eighth minute when Warren Barton's quick ball was nodded down by Kevin Gallacher into the path of a marauding Peruvian Nolberto Solano, who crossed to an expectant Glass to volley home unmarked from close range.

Only minutes later and the home side doubled their advantage, Solano was once again found on the right and with all the time in the world crossed to the immense figure of Cort who steered his header past a flapping David James.

The England keeper, however, atoned for his error on 20 minutes; somehow clawing Gary Speed's downward header away from skipper Barton's cross.

Not even the profligate talents of Merson and Ginola could resurrect Villa, unbeaten in their previous 11 matches, from their torpor; their performance distorted somewhat by the inherent disability of £9m Columbian flop Juan Angel to produce any semblance of the beautiful game during his 64 minutes on the field.

The fans seemingly more intent on chiding Trevor Francis and his Birmingham City's failure to get into the play-off final, Villa rarely flattered managing their only pot shot on 44 minutes - a wild shot by Angel that almost hit the corner flag seemingly summing up their turgid first-half display.

In the 35th minute their side almost relinquished further when a simple ball out to the right was collected by yet again an unmarked Solano, whose resulting cross was not gathered by the hapless James, and had to be rescued by the wayward back-heel of Delaney.

A flurry of chances near the cusp of half-time signaled Newcastle easy dominance over their downhearted visitors.

First James managed to push a dangerous knock-down from Cort away from an advancing Speed, then the England keeper pulled off a magnificent stop to deny Gallacher's impish close-range flick from Cort's powerful header.

Gregory, seemingly disinterested in addressing the problem the Villans were experiencing down the right-hand-side devoted more time to the public rebuke of Ginola, culminating in the Frenchman's early exit from the game (and possibly his last match in a Villa shirt) two minutes before the break to much amusement of the spectators that once coveted his skills.

Free from the Frenchman's histrionics, Villa emerged in the second half a rejuvenated side. Newly-appointed skipper Paul Merson never looked resigned to defeat, and solely prodded Villa's hopes forward with some superb tricks.

In the 53rd minute Merson pushed a ball through to Dion Dublin but the striker's shot failed to trouble Given's goal. Minutes later and George Boateng produced Villa's first strike on target; briefly spilled by a redundant Given.

Yet any hopes of a Villa revival were finally vanquished in the 74th minute when the hapless Delaney, fending off the expected challenge of the Speed, directed the ball past his own keeper following good work by the sinuous Ameobi.

Skipping past the ponderous challenge of Alpay, the Under 21 star centred toward the advancing Speed only for Delaney to oblige with the killer strike.

With only seven minutes left Speed and Taylor became embroiled in a pointless tussle which referee Barry Knight saw fit to mete out the harshest penalty at his disposal.

Robson said: "I think a yellow card would have been sufficient given the circumstances. The referee unfortunately decided to be severe rather than go along with the spirit of the match.

"It's very disappointing because we will now miss him for three matches at the start of next season."