DEAR Santa, Sorry I've left it late with my Christmas list this year but I'm sure you can understand it's difficult to find the time to write with the fixture list as it is at the moment.

Anyway, I'll get straight to the point because I know you're a busy man and I don't want to delay you any further in your duties.

You'll be glad to hear I only want two things for Christmas this year -- a huge slice of luck and a proven target man with an eye for goal.

I can assure you we've been good this year (in fact very, very good in some of our games).

But without wanting to sound too pushy, we desperately need the above two items as soon as possible otherwise it could take the shine off what had promised to be a very merry festive period.

Hope you can be of help.

Yours gratefully, Graeme Souness.......

Okay, okay so I might be stretching the point a little, but after watching Rovers crash to a third straight defeat in the league, Souness must be feeling more like Bill Murray's character in the Hollywood blockbuster 'Groundhog Day' with each passing week.

For the last three weekends, the straight-talking Scot must have woken up on matchday with that same feeling of inner confidence, born out of excellent results achieved against Arsenal and Manchester United earlier in the season.

However, on each occasion he's then returned home later that night ruing his side's luck after seeing them slump to yet another cruelly unjust defeat.

Saturday's trip to Newcastle -- like the recent reverses against Middlesbrough and Leeds -- was once again a tale of missed chances and misfortune.

But if Rovers cannot break the cycle quickly, then they could find themselves in the thick of a relegation scrap come the New Year.

Because, for all their early season promise, the stark fact remains they have now won just four of their opening 17 games in the league.

And, if ever there was a time to stand up and be counted then this is it, as they prepare for a hectic schedule of four games in 11 days over the festive period.

If Rovers have shown one quality above any other, however, in the 18 months since Souness took over, then it's character.

And England Under 21 skipper David Dunn spoke for everyone when he emerged from the visiting dressing room at St James's and vowed 'Don't worry, we'll get it right.'

"Everyone in the dressing room was disappointed," said Dunn, the scorer of Rovers' goal.

"To go from being 1-0 up and looking pretty comfortable to getting beat 2-1 is a bit sickening to say the least.

"But we've got a lot of spirit and I'm sure we can bounce back from this -- it's just important that we don't panic.

"We knew from the start this wasn't going to be an easy league having come up and let's not forget this time last year we were in the middle of the first division.

"So we've got to take something out of the fact we are currently holding our own in the Premier League.

"As a team, I think there's a lot more to come from us yet.

"But this Christmas period has now become an important time for us and we've got to go out and try and pick up as many points as we can to make sure we steer clear of trouble."

The day had started brightly enough as news of the Worthington Cup draw filtered through to the players.

However, the manner in which Rovers were then sunk by the old one-two routine must have left Souness and his players sick to the stomach.

A whopping crowd of 50,064 had piled into St James's with great expectations, hoping to see the Premiership's 10,000th goal.

But Gary Speed's winner was anything but special as he floored the visitors with a total fluke in the 70th minute as United completed a remarkable comeback.

Rob Elliott's miscued cross somehow found the Welshman at the far post who was simply attempting to nod it back into the danger area only to then see his header loop over a startled Brad Friedel into the far corner of the net to send Rovers reeling.

"That was a poxy goal -- it wasn't meant at all -- but that's the way things are going for us at the minute," said Souness.

St James's has never been the happiest of hunting grounds for Rovers. In fact you have to go back to 1958 to find their last league victory there.

But even United boss Bobby Robson had to admit his side were desperately lucky to clinch their fifth home victory of the season.

Souness once again opted for a 4-5-1 formation with Matt Jansen used as a lone striker up front but his plans were then dealt a devastating blow when the England wannabe was stretchered off with a serious-looking injury in the 25th minute.

Keith Gillespie had whipped over a cross from the right, Jansen jumped up with a defender but got nudged in the air, and as he landed he collapsed in agony having gone over on his ankle.

With Rovers' striking resources as they are, the 24-year-old was the last man Souness could afford to lose.

And, for all the best efforts of veteran striker Mark Hughes, the visitors clearly missed the England wannabe's invention up front.

Despite that body-blow, however, Rovers actually stunned the home fans into silence when they took the lead in the 34th minute of a scrappy first half.

Tugay let rip from the edge of the box, the ball bounced wickedly in front of Shay Given who only managed to shovel it up onto the crossbar, and Dunn raced in to bundle the loose ball over the line.

Robson knew it was going to take something special to turn things around and the arrival of second half subs Kieron Dyer and Lomana Lualua suddenly injected new life into their game.

The comeback started in the 65th minute when a sweeping Newcastle move ended up with Nol Solano picking out Oliver Bernard on the edge of the box who drilled an excellent left-foot shot into Friedel's bottom corner.

If that was sublime, then the winner five minutes later was ridiculous as Speed's speculative header left the big American anchored in no-man's land.

Souness threw on both Martin Taylor and Ciccio Grabbi in a desperate attempt to salvage the point Rovers' performance deserved.

But, despite some intense late pressure, United held on to leave the visitors facing an uncomfortable Christmas.

NEWCASTLE 2 ROVERS 1

Scorers: Bernard 65, Speed 70

Scorer: Dunn 34