Newcastle's recent success in the league was rendered null and void after a humiliating trouncing at the hands of a young Birmingham, team currently sitting in pole in the Championship, last night. 
 Glenn Roeder's start to the new year could hardly have been called perfect, but provided a few weeks of relief for him and his team- a honeymoon period that was abruptly brought to an end courtesy of a mixture of bad luck and skill on th pert of the underdogs. Birmingham capitalised on thier chances with a sublime effort from Seb Larsson followed by a series of unfortunate events leading to goals from Gary mcsheffney, DJ Campbell, who beat a sloppy offside trap to lift the ball over the oncoming Shay Given from the edge of the box, and an own goal from Noberto Solano was unable to stop adding insult to injury as he slipped, mid-clearence, to slice the ball over a yet again despairing Given. Glenn Roeder refused to comment, but Newcastle captain Scott Parker called the performance 'dismal' and apoligised to fans, adding that he hoped that thier support would be rewarded with an away victory in the premiership at the weekend; a sharp contrast to comments made by Birmingham players of a self proclaimed 'inspirational' and 'superb team performance.'