Middlesbrough 1 Newcastle 0
Newcastle's hopes of forcing their way into the Premiership title race were dealt a hammer blow by northeast rivals Middlesbrough here on Wednesday as they went down to a 1-0 defeat.
Cameroon wingback Geremi's header just after the hour mark was enough to give Boro three points and leave Newcastle eight points adrift of leaders Arsenal with just nine games left to close the gap.
The result will inevitably be the subject of some recriminations given the background to a match which should originally have been played in January.
Newcastle felt at the time that Boro had been over hasty in postponing the match because of snow at a time when they were deprived of many of their most experienced players through injury.
But they can have no excuses after being out-battled by their opponents, whose spirited performance finally got its reward in the 62nd minute.
French left-back Franck Queudrue was allowed time and space on the left to pick out Geremi who got in front of his marker and headed powerfully past Shay Given.
United were in trouble again on 70 minutes after Dyer was bundled off the ball inside the Boro box, Greening and Juninho combining to put Maccarone into space on the right, although his cross was ushered to safety by Woodgate.
Bellamy hammered well wide on 73 minutes as United launched a late fightback, and Robson responded by sending on Hugo Viana and Shola Ameobi in place of Speed and Robert.
But it was Bernard who almost levelled with 11 minutes remaining when he collected Bellamy's pass before cutting inside and blasting a left-foot drive inches wide.
Queudrue smashed an 85th-minute free-kick into the defensive wall after Bramble had been penalised for a challenge on Ricketts, and when the ball fell to Boateng, he drove high over.
The result leaves Bobby Robson's side three points behind Manchester United who won 2-1 at home to Leeds United.