NEWCASTLE’S cathedral on the hill has been cruelly dubbed ‘Sid James Park’ this season and there were elements of ‘Carry on Ref’ and ‘Bless this House’.

High drama and undiluted camp were on show as City led 1-0 and then nearly contrived to lose to a severely limited Magpies side that played with ten men for 78 minutes.

It was a poor display from a side that had been full of vim and vigour before the international break.

Mark Hughes insists his side is a work in progress that will improve and they will have to do so to trouble to the top four on this evidence.

Robinho ought to have set City on their way to three points in the 13th minute coolly despatching a penalty after he had been felled by Habib Beye who was red carded in the same incident by referee Rob Styles who immediately became the night’s pantomime villain by not only pointing to the spot but also to the dressing room for the astonished Beye.

It is not the first time Styles had courted controversy this season – ask Bolton fans who were at Old Trafford – and there were plenty who thought he was wrong, too, on this occasion with his award of a spot kick.

After being on the end of a game-changing red card themselves against Liverpool, City were not complaining and continued to play in their calm, measured easy on the eye way exploiting the space and the extra man though never quite doing enough to unpick Newcastle often enough.

There were many fascinating facets to last night’s contest not least the battle on the touchline between the managers Joe Kinnear and Mark Hughes.

In many ways they represent the new and the old in terms of management style with Kinnear now more famous with the modern ‘u- tube’ generation of supporter for being able to string scores of expletives together in a rant rather than anything he achieved as a manager at Wimbledon or Luton or as player for Spurs and the Republic of Ireland.

If Hughes is the lean, mean, high tech coach at the cutting edge of 21st Century football seeking to gain any advantage he can from employing sports science and statistics to go alongside the experience and wisdom of his coaches then the swearing Kinnear can be regarded as something of a throw back to when managers were larger than life and dressing rooms stacked with what bosses liked to refer to as ‘characters’ which was really only a handy euphemism used to cover up any manner of misdemeanours and defects.

Given the circumstances of his arrival and the tepid response to it by a Newcastle public still awed by its football club but totally out of love with those running it in the boardroom, Kinnear can be praised for eliciting a response on the training ground that saw the Magpies come from two goals down to draw at Everton and for galvanising them again last night.

Hughes had issues of his own to contend with for, despite a bright and breezy start to the season and progress on the European front, the Blues were laying too far off the top six pace as they headed for the north-east. They still are. This trip to St James Park represented the start of a run of games that will ultimately shape much of Hughes’ transfer dealings in the January transfer market but also the realistic ambitions of a side now yoked to the title ‘richest club in the world’.

This game is followed, in chronological order, by games against Stoke, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Spurs and Hull before any of the top flight’s big beasts hove into view so although far from being a ‘must win’ affair this contest was one from which, for the sake of momentum and confidence, City needed to come away from without defeat.

The next five fixtures now ought to give the Blues a springboard and platform to launch an assault on the upper reaches of the table.

Brazilian Robinho gave the visitors a timely boost by passing a pre-match fitness test and lining up in a side that showed only one change from that which led Liverpool 2-0 but lost 3-2. Pablo Zabaleta started a three match ban and in his place came Israel international Tal Ben Haim who slotted alongside Richard Dunne leaving Micah Richards to assume the role of right back.

There was one unforced change, too, with Elano, after two strenuous Brazil World Cup qualifiers left on the bench and Hughes opting for the extra solidity offered by the experienced Didi Hamann who is not revered in these parts having decamped to Liverpool after one season in the Toon.

Despite their early lead the Blues never established total superiority and paid for it in the shadow of half time in comical fashion. Martins’ cross was volleyed away by Dunne but it hit Vincent Kompany and from the second rebound Ben Haim knocked the ball into the path of Shola Ameobi who scored his first goal in around two years.

City then paid for their over-confidence and lethargy in the 62nd minute when Dunne got his feet in a right old tangle and diverted Geremi’s corner into his own net.

Shay Given saved wonderfully well from Ireland’s superb volley before the City man won round two of his personal battle with his international teammate when he slotted home Robinho’s face saving pass four minutes from time.