Robson looks for boost from win

Newcastle boss Sir Bobby Robson believes this afternoon’s derby victory over Sunderland at St James’ Park can kickstart their season.

The Magpies secured only their second Premiership win of the season as they triumphed 2-0 with goals from Craig Bellamy and Alan Shearer.

Robson said: “We needed to win and we’ve done it. Now we can have a nice weekend.

“We knew they would come here with a tremendous urge to try and strangle us in a packed midfield and up front.

“But we needed to get in front and once it happened I think it was always going to be our game at our ground.

“We’ve had the doom and gloom merchants but that has never been the situation here – you just need time in football sometimes and we’ll be okay now.”

Robson however was disappointed with an incident in the second half when referee Mike Riley booked Bellamy for diving as he was challenged by Matt Piper in the area.

Robson added on Sky Sports: “He’s not going to dive. I know when a player has dived and he wanted to score.

“He wouldn’t want a penalty because Alan Shearer takes them and he wanted to score. In my opinion that’s a rough booking.”

Bellamy also felt that he had been harshly treated by the referee over the incident.

He said: “Maybe the ref will look at it again and hopefully I can get the booking off. I actually thought he had given the penalty.”

The Wales forward was, however, delighted with the victory coming on the back of a long and unsuccessful journey to play Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League.

He added: “The important thing was we needed a good start because we thought we might tire later and that’s what we got. I felt we were the better footballing side. It was a great result.

“Obviously there was a lot of tiredness but the win will make it a lot better.

“We had lost three games on the row and a lot of people have been criticising us, and rightly so, but we needed this result.

“It gets us going. We’ve had tough start but we’re a game behind other teams and if we can win that game in hand we’re back up there. It’s a long season.”