Steve Kean has made an uneasy truce with Blackburn Rovers supporters and the atmosphere at Ewood games is nothing like as rancorous as it was before Christmas, yet patience will soon be wearing thin again if Rovers make a habit of giving points away in this manner.
Newcastle United will not complain, after going fifth in the table, though they did little in the game except score two goals and the first was handed to them by an extraordinarily generous defence. The home side, by contrast, had to work for their opportunities and duly did, but never really managed to bother Tim Krul even when they were awarded a penalty.
"We had some fortune today, which makes a difference when you have key players missing," Alan Pardew said. "We were disappointed that Yohan Cabaye got three matches, especially as Brighton said there was no intent, but we have Demba Ba and Papiss Cissé back in the north-east tomorrow and fifth place will be a pleasant surprise for them. We are above Liverpool and Arsenal, and we can attack the second half of the season from here. And we can let our hair down too, because we are safe."
Beginning his suspension for violent conduct, Cabaye had tweeted: "In my team-mates I trust!" Perhaps a little more cautiously, the pre-match message from Kean had been that in Blackburn's supporters he trusted, the manager thanking fans for their renewed backing. The Frenchman's place in Newcastle's midfield was taken by Ryan Taylor, with Blackburn giving a home debut to Anthony Modeste, on loan from Bordeaux, who was playing up front in the absence of their suspended top scorer, Yakubu Ayegbeni.
Taylor enjoyed his midfield freedom so much he almost scored the first goal, though in addition to the significant deflection off Scott Dann which deprived him of the honour the Newcastle opener owed much to some truly shocking defending. First Dann and Jason Lowe left a pass from Radosav Petrovic to each other in their own half, inviting Danny Guthrie to saunter between them and pinch the ball. There was still no immediate threat as Jonás Gutiérrez transferred it to Taylor, who shot because he lacked a better option. But once Dann got a final touch on the ball it spun beyond the reach of the stranded Paul Robinson.
For a team in the bottom three, it was no way to start a game on one of the coldest nights east Lancashire could offer, even if Modeste was managing to keep warm by running with encouraging purpose at the Newcastle defence. The new boy created a shooting opportunity for Junior Hoilett midway through the first half from which the winger curled a shot narrowly wide, before David Dunn set up Modeste for a shot that Fabricio Coloccini dived in to block.
Hoilett was involved in the first half's moment of controversy, when Coloccini was lucky to get away with tripping him on the edge of the area, particularly as Taylor went into the book for extending the argument and provoking a melee. Blackburn did get a free-kick for the foul but Morten Gamst Pedersen struck the wall. They came closer to an equaliser from a Pedersen corner just before the interval, when Leon Best headed against his own bar under pressure from Gaël Givet.
Blackburn were enjoying enough of the game at this point to suggest an equaliser might be on its way, and it should have arrived a couple of minutes before the break when Simpson was penalised for a foul on Modeste in the area. The loan signing raised his arm in triumph but celebrated too soon. Dunn put his spot kick too close to Krul and the goalkeeper saved it comfortably.
Modeste spoiled an otherwise promising first start by rushing at a chance early in the second half then missing the target when presented with a sight of goal as the game moved into its final quarter. Dann stole into position to get a header on target from a Pedersen free-kick, only to direct it straight to Krul, then Steven Nzonzi drove optimistically over the bar from distance, but there was nothing to get the home crowd excited apart from a false alarm when Mauro Formica found the side-netting. Newcastle knew what to do and, after making a minor adjustment to bolster their defence for the second half, the visitors were seeing it out quite easily even before Gabriel Obertan added insult to injury with his first goal for the club.
Blackburn were throwing everything into a stoppage-time attack when they lost the ball and were summarily punished. The substitute ran clear into an empty half to steer a decisive shot past Robinson. "We had enough chances to win three games but we snatched at them," Kean said. "We usually have Yakubu up front and he has more composure."