NEWCASTLE'S players held a full and frank "inquest" into Saturday's humiliating 4-1 home defeat by Portsmouth yesterday morning, and goalkeeper Steve Harper claims the clear-the-air talks have increased the squad's determination to make amends in this weekend's Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland.

Sam Allardyce made each and every member of his side sit through a recording of last weekend's St James' Park slaughter before they began training yesterday morning.

The video nasty was followed by a candid analysis session in which the Magpies manager dissected the multiple defensive mistakes that contributed to Newcastle's worst Premier League home defeat since April 2005.

It was hardly a pleasant two hours, but Harper, who was returning to the side in place of the injured Shay Given, feels the experience could prove cathartic ahead of one of the biggest games of the campaign.

"What went wrong? I wish I knew," said the shot-stopper. "But we looked at the video and had a bit of an inquest. It was no fun at all, but we needed to do it. We had a constructive meeting and looked at what went wrong.

"We felt we had to analyse what happened in those eleven minutes.

"By 12 minutes past three, it was almost like a bomb had gone off.

"It was one of those days when everything that could have gone wrong, did. Thankfully, those days are few and far between though, and we have a great chance to put things right on Saturday."