A DOWNBEAT Graeme Souness last night admitted his Newcastle side were embroiled in a relegation scrap after a 3-0 defeat at Manchester City plunged them closer to the Premiership drop zone.

With Birmingham having drawn 1-1 at Liverpool, the Magpies now find themselves just six points clear of the bottom three ahead of Saturday's basement battle with Portsmouth.

Just as worryingly, Souness' side have collected just one point from their last six league games, and that came courtesy of Lee Clark's last-minute equaliser against Middlesbrough on January 2.

Tellingly, they failed to score in five of those matches and, with a number of their rivals in the bottom half of the table having strengthened their squad last month, the Scot has grudgingly acknowledged the extent of Newcastle's plight.

"Are we dangerously close to relegation? Yes, we are," admitted Souness, who insisted his own position had not changed as a result of last night's defeat. "That's a fact and I can't deny it. We're now in a scrap and we have to show what we are made of. It's not a time for feeling sorry for ourselves.

"I can't defend it (Newcastle's run of six Premiership games without a win). It's not good enough."

With the pressure on the under-fire Magpies manager intensifying - a group of travelling fans unfurled a huge banner carrying the words "Souness Out" at half-time last night - the latest episode in a calamitous campaign provided further ammunition to those who question the wisdom of keeping him at the helm.

Souness is no nearer to solving his side's chronic lack of creativity while, at the other end of the field, defensive blunders continue to hit hard.

At the weekend, the Scot was describing Jean-Alain Boumsong as a potential star of this summer's World Cup. That hardly seems likely if the Frenchman cannot even control the ageing Andy Cole.

"Defensively, we let ourselves down again," admitted Souness. "When you're not winning games, your confidence is low and when you concede a goal, you find out what kind of characters you have.

"We have not been very good defensively all season. We have leaked goals that have not been great. We work on it, we talk about it. Ultimately, it comes down to the players. They know what they are doing wrong. You have to have a sixth sense and be able to smell danger. We are not doing that."

Things were not much better in attack, with Newcastle failing to force City goalkeeper David James into a single save of note.

"Over the 90 minutes, we had the majority of the ball but did bugger all with it," conceded Souness. "We have some players on the pitch who can see a clever pass, but we didn't show it here.

"We have not done it in recent weeks. It's something we have to start doing. If you're not scoring goals and you're conceding them, you know what is going to happen.