FORGET smash and grab, this was a case of taking what was rightfully theirs for Blackburn Rovers at St James’ Park.

Seeing a team that started the day in the bottom three taking all three points from the league leaders who were chasing a 10th consecutive win in all competitions, would likely bring about such thoughts from an outside perspective.

But to coin a phrase used by Owen Coyle in his post-match press conference: “Nothing could have been further from the truth.”

Rovers were resilient, disciplined, organised, and in the end, victorious, thanks to Charlie Mulgrew’s 75th minute winner.

There was an expectation, not least from the 50,000 plus home fans that Newcastle would merely stroll to a club record win and sweep aside Rovers.

But the positivity expressed by Coyle in his pre-match press conference transpired to his players who executed their game-plan to the letter.

That also passed to the travelling 1,500 Rovers fans, who, if they didn’t believe at 3pm, would slowly have gained confidence from their side’s display, that they could cause an upset.

The first-half saw little by way of goalmouth action, but the best of the chances went the way of Rovers.

Liam Feeney enjoyed some early joy down the Rovers right, and it was his cross that saw Danny Graham almost open the scoring with a flicked header.  However, a backpeddling Karl Darlow managed to adjust his feet and tip behind the header.

Newcastle had to wait almost half an hour to threaten, and on one of the few occasions they were able to break in behind the Rovers backline, Christian Atsu’s effort, from Ajoze Perez’s cutback, was deflected behind by Darragh Lenihan inside the six yard box.

At the start of the second period, Newcastle did threaten to get on top.  Another chance came and went for Atsu, as he skewed a Perez cross wide, while Matt Ritchie wasted a better chance in the 58th minute, volleying over a cross from substitute Paul Dummett when the winger may well have thought he could have done better.

But many of their chances were coming from distance, with Isaac Hayden firing wide from 25 yards, before Jonjo Shelvey finally called Jason Steele in to action in the 70th minute.

As Charlie Mulgrew’s clearing header found its way to the former England man, he fired a 30-yarder goalwards, only to see Steele equal to it, palming it behind for a corner.
from that resulting set play, the Rovers stopper would make an even better save, denying central defender Ciaran Clark smartly inside the six yard box.

However, Coyle made an incisive switch to send on Marvin Emnes, and the Rovers substitute helped stretch the game, and in turn, tip the game in Rovers’ favour.

His trickery would win the visitors a 75th minute corner, which Craig Conway would play short to Feeney, with Mulgrew getting the decisive touch to that cross turn the ball beyond Darlow.

Many thought a siege of Newcastle pressure would follow, but until a nerve-wracking six minutes was added on, it was Rovers who looked the more likely to grab the game’s second goal.

Emnes, who had dragged a shot wide moments after coming on, found the side netting with an effort from the left-edge of the box, while Corry Evans had a shot deflected behind, and Graham flashed a header wide from another excellent Conway set piece.

The six minutes brought life to the home crowd which had been stunned by Mulgrew’s strike, and their side did almost snatch an equaliser late on.

Dwight Gayle, the Championship’s top marksman, had watched from the sidelines up until the 84th minute, but would get one excellent chance to score his 14th of the season in the first minute of added time.

But his finishing, just like the Magpies’ overall performance, was off colour.

Three points, a second clean sheet of the season, a first in Rovers colours for Mulgrew and moving out of the bottom three made it something of a perfect weekend for Rovers.

The last word can be given to Alan Shearer, a club legend of both sides.

He paid Rovers arguably the biggest comment, posting on social media: “I was at the game and you deserved the win. Better team today.”

And you can’t disagree with Alan Shearer.