Magpies left hoping for a minor miracle

It's a dreadful downward spiral to try and reverse. Defeat has become a way of life.

Even if Newcastle overcome Portsmouth at St James's Park next time out, as they must or fall upon their sword, they will still be guaranteed to remain in the relegation cellar. That's a harsh fact.

And they must pray that Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Hull City and Sunderland don't reap reward when they play before United are in action or the points gap will be even greater than the current four.

A 1-0 defeat at Spurs yesterday means not only is Portsmouth a must-win match but Boro and Fulham at home too.

Shearer has tried everything to lift spirits, organise limited ability, and gamble on his team formations, but the brutal truth is that the clock is ticking away relentlessly and will wait for no one.

Five matches to go - the three key ones at home plus away to Liverpool, still chasing the PL title, and Aston Villa on the very last day.

Neither Shearer nor the Toon Army will expect anything at Anfield but it could require the Magpies to take advantage of Villa's recent slump to get out of jail.

Oh, the agony. The awful price that has to be paid for a season of relentless bungling.

Shearer has risked reputation on three central defenders and, by the end at White Hart Lane, three strikers.

So what next? Well, probably a flat back four at home and, yes, Oba Martins, Mark Viduka and Michael Owen in harness at the sharp end. After all, it was precisely the way Kevin Keegan gloriously kept United up at the end of last season.

Shearer has to go for broke in selection and produce a Churchillian team-talk to instil fire in the belly despite recent results.

Then others must fail - if we can rely on West Brom then perhaps Boro and Hull can complete the doomed trio so that Newcastle survive.

If both back and front are an accepted problem - scoring goals and keeping them out - then midfield is most certainly far, far from perfect.

Not enough opportunities are created for the strikers and the engine room has lacked legs, which is why Shearer has put Jonas Guitierez in the heart of it rather than wide.

Kevin Nolan continues to see each and every game pass him by.

It has been so since his arrival in the January window and forgotten man Alan Smith certainly did no more than the latest transfer signing to disappoint when he came on in the second half.

We clung at half-time to the faint hope that history might just repeat itself. Last campaign United trailed 1-0 to a Darren Bent goal after 45 minutes at Tottenham but sensationally ran out 4-1 victors.

However, even though performance improved, and it could hardly have dropped much lower, there was never going to be a rampage.

As I've said, every Geordie is banking on three home victories to keep the Mags in top-flight football, yet Newcastle haven't won at St James's Park since before Christmas, a run of seven fruitless Premier League outings, so why should that suddenly and dramatically change with nine points out of nine?

Why? Because if we don't believe in miracles, we're dead!