Technically, yes we were, but that still doesn’t tell you the whole story here. The linesman got it horribly wrong and cost us our first point at Stamford Bridge since August 2001, but in truth can anyone really say we deserved anything from this game after the way in which we approached the final 20 minutes? Yes, we were better than we had been recently, but we were hardly expansive – especially after we equalised!

When it got to 1-1, many people could have been forgiven for allowing themselves to think that the impossible may really happen. For all intents and purposes Chelsea were struggling, the crowd was on Grant’s back, and they probably only had 2 first-choice players on the park when Sinclair came on for them. All of it looked set for a Highbury-esque result (1-3 back under Sir Bobby), but then we did what the New Newcastle always do and tried to sit back.

People will say that bringing Michael Owen on for Obafemi Martins was not a defensive move, and they are right, but it was not a sensible move. It robbed us of our only attacking outlet and which allowed Chelsea to defend higher up the pitch, compress the play, and swing the balance of the game back in their favour. After it went to 1-1 we looked the more likely to score, Martins providing a great cross for Duff that Belletti did well to intercept, and then we made that change.

What did we do after Michael Owen came on the pitch? Absolutely nowt. Now I will admit that I’m not Mo’s biggest fan, but this isn’t a personal tirade against him – he simply cannot be expected to play the lone striker role, it is not his game, if we were truly serious about trying to win then surely the obvious substitutions would have been Owen and Viduka for the injured Smith and the unfit Duff? I’m not usually one to nitpick like this, but it was plainly obvious to me during the game that Allardyce’s substitutions cost us the point as much as the linesman did.

A draw would have been a decent result – even though we were really playing a Chelsea XI rather than the real deal – but the loss made all the more disappointing by the fact that we could have won here for the first time since 1986. A win here would have seriously relieved the pressure on Allardyce and his squad, but I’m not sure if he had either the nouse or the bollocks to go for it.

Thankfully, he looks like keeping his job and so he should get time to make up for this “mistake” in the future, I hope to God that he does so.

The performance was a big improvement, and I felt that we matched Chelsea well. Looking back at replays confirmed for me the reports that Kalou’s ‘goal’ was offside, so we I feel that we were unlucky not to take a point from the game.

Against the odds, Newcastle went, matched (and to an extent outplayed) Chelsea on their own turf, and came away with nothing thanks to some dodgy officiating. Salomon Kalou was clearly standing near on FOUR YARDS offside when the ball deflected to him from Claudio Pizzaro, yet the forward was allowed to skip his way past Shay Given and give Chelsea the victory; the flag that should have followed, didn’t.

To make matters even more shocking, Shay Given, Abdoulaye Faye and Charles N’Zogbia were booked for protesting the decision. Newcastle surrounded the referee, and his assistant who didn’t make the decision, yet they still didn’t question the decision. Big Sam’s words post-match summed the whole thing up:

“Managers are losing their jobs sooner than ever and that means there is even more pressure on decisions. That was a horrid decision. I wouldn’t mind being fined for criticising but what is the point? The Chelsea player was three yards offside. It is certainly the worst decision against me this year. But referee Mike Riley should have gone over to linesman Mike Cairns and given him time to change his mind.”

How can he expected to fight for his job when the football officials aren’t even doing their jobs? It’s pathetic that someone can get such a decision wrong, and that Newcastle are now without no points from that game. To make matters even worse, they can’t appeal to anyone for the points as once the final whistle goes, there’s nothing more than can be done even if the ref wanted to.

From the rest of the game, we should be proud. For a large period of the second half, we dictated play and were in it right up to the Chelsea winner. The Nicky Butt goal was scrappy, but we deserved it. If any time was going to win it after that, you wouldn’t have been mistaken in believing it could have been us. Chelsea’s quality was always better than ours however, and in the end our defensive, sit-on-a-result attitude beat us again.

Maybe I’m living in dreamland, but it sure as hell would have been great to be the first side to win at Stamford Bridge since February 2004. Sadly, as with most things Newcastle, it wasn’t meant to be.