ITN
Blackburn win 1-0 at Newcastle
Blackburn win 1-0 at Newcastle
The pressure is sure to be mounting on Graeme Souness after the Scot's former club Blackburn Rovers consigned Newcastle United to their sixth Premiership defeat in ten matches. Morten Gamst Pedersen's 75th-minute strike was enough to give Mark Hughes's visitors their fourth win in a five-match unbeaten run which has seen them move up to eighth place in the table. Newcastle are now just seven points clear of the Premiership's dreaded drop zone having lost their tenth match in the league this season and with Birmingham City consigning fellow relegation strugglers Portsmouth to a 5-0 thumping at St Andrews. Steve Bruce's Blues leapfrog Pompey, who have now fallen to 19th place, thanks to a goal apiece from Jiri Jarosik, Jermaine Pennant, Matthew Upson, Mikael Forssell and David Dunn. David Moyes' Everton, meanwhile, continued their move from the relegation dogfight up to mid-table respectability with a 1-0 win over Arsenal, who had Cesc Fabregas sent off - James Beattie's seventh goal of the season saw the Merseysiders up to 11th spot with their fourth successive win. Wigan Athletic are now level on points with fifth-placed Arsenal thanks to their 3-2 win at Steve McClaren's out-of-form Middlesbrough, who have not won a league game since November last year. Loan signing Neil Mellor's injury-time winner gave Paul Jewell's Latics the points at the Riverside after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Yakubu Aiyegbeni restored parity, cancelling out first-half strikes for the visitors from Jason Roberts and David Thompson. Tottenham Hotspur consolidated fourth place, despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Aston Villa, while Bolton Wanderers moved to within a point of Wigan and Arsenal with a 2-0 win over Manchester City thanks to a goal apiece from Jared Borgetti and Kevin Nolan. Sunderland seized upon a long-overdue slice of fortune to sink West Brom 1-0 and claim only the Black Cats' second Barclays Premiership win of a desperate season. Anthony Le Tallec's 72nd-minute effort appeared to be drifting wide when it struck Baggies defender Steve Watson and deflected past Tomasz Kuszczak.
ITN | January 21, 2006
