RECALLED Antti Niemi was left cursing Saints' lack of a "cutting edge" as his first team return ended in defeat.

While Niemi had little chance for the goal, he impressed with a string of other good saves.

The Finn said: "Alan Shearer is still easily the best target-man in the country, even at his age, while Craig Bellamy has quick feet, he is a quick player and is always difficult to handle.

"Their movement up front is first-class. I take my hat off to him (Shearer), it was a fantastic finish."

He added: "We didn't play badly. It is a difficult place to come and we kept the ball quite well. There were positives in the game - for example, Danny Higginbotham had a smashing game.

"But our cutting edge was missing and we didn't create too many chances. We are always disappointed to lose.

"That is the second defeat in a row, so we will just have to look for the next game and put it right then.

"We defended pretty well in the first-half. They kept the ball well, but only had one chance before the goal.

"I thought we had done well and it was really disappointing to concede."

Niemi added: "I've got a lot of respect for Newcastle, but I've seen them play better and felt we could definitely have had a point.

"They have some quality players going forward and in midfield, so it was always going to be difficult to get a result.

"But, before they scored, the only save I had to make was from Shearer.

"But it tells you how far we have come that we are disappointed not to win at Newcastle."