Newcastle United continued their slide towards the relegation zone with yet another defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers in their Premiership encounter on Saturday.

Matt Derbyshire came off the bench to grab the winner in the final minute of the match and help his side remain in touch of achieving their pre-season ambition of European football next season. Though Newcastle suffered yet another defeat, it was an improved performance by the side who came close to taking the lead themselves.

Newcastle were off to a positive start and nearly took the lead inside the first five minutes when Damien Duff dragged his shot inches wide of the post. Alan Smith and James Milner both had decent chances but were unable to hit the target while Duff once again came close to breaking the deadlock.

Michael Owen had the best chance of the half when he latched on to Joey Barton's through ball but his shot flashed across the face of the goal. Blackburn's first real chance of the match came in the second half when Roque Santa Cruz took advantage of some rash defending by Stephen Taylor but skewed his shot over the bar.

Owen had two great chances in the second half but Brad Friedel was equal to the challenge on both the occasions. Owen was having a great game but had little to show as he was denied time and again by some good defending by Blackburn.

With time running out, Blackburn launched a final counter attacking move that saw David Bentley release Derbyshire up front and the striker made no mistake to smash the ball past Harper in the final minute of the game to hand over the victory to his side.