Unlucky Sam's 'offside' blues as Newcastle fans round on him

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Ashley spent Boxing Day with the chants of "Shearer, Shearer" ringing in his ears as Newcastle gave a dire performance at Wigan.

There were no such chants at Chelsea and if Ashley had attended, he would no doubt have joined in with the warm applause which Newcastle's players received from their fans after they were robbed of a deserved point.

The irony was that, despite engineering a victory which kept Chelsea's title hopes alive, it was Avram Grant who was subjected to chants of 'You don't know what you're doing' by home fans. The name of Jose Mourinho also rang out as Grant was made fully aware of supporters' displeasure at his second-half substitutions.

Mourinho may still be missed but Grant's record stands up to scrutiny. He has earned one more point than The Special One managed at the same stage last season.

In truth, the only person who really did not know what he was doing was referee's assistant Mike Cairns, who allowed Salomon Kalou's late winner to stand despite the Ivorian being two yards offside.

Never one to shirk a frank exchange of views with Keith Hackett, Allardyce admitted he is hopeful of a call from the referees' chief.

"He might actually pick the phone up to me," said Allardyce. "I don't know about whether he'd apologise. But, in the end, it's not going to get us any points on the board."

Allardyce can at least take heart from the way his side responded to Chelsea's first-half barrage. "You have to take the positives out of a good performance, even though you haven't got a result," he said.

"For me, it's telling the players to stay as focused and reproduce that sort of form on a consistent basis.

"We came back tremendously well from the scrappy goal we conceded, got the goal we deserved and, in the second half, it looked as if it would be us if anybody who scored the second goal. Then we were dealt this massive blow with the offside decision — blatantly offside — which has gone against us."

Grant admitted to a large slice of fortune but insisted Chelsea — minus 10 injured or banned stars — were good value for their victory.

"I think we deserved to win," said the Israeli coach. "I want this sort of luck when we play s*** to win the game. We've had so much bad news. The good news is that we've won a game like that. I could stand here and talk about the problems for a long time. But I think in this game we need to speak about the players who did play. I am very proud of them."

Blaming the reaction of the fans on fears that last season's poor Christmas points haul would be repeated, Grant wisely opted to take the criticism on the chin. "They saw we were playing good football and were thinking it would be 3-0 to us," said Grant.

"Then suddenly it was back to 1-1. They want to win. The fans have been sending me letters and reminding me about what happened last Christmas when, because we had injuries, we could not cope and lost points. I'm not complaining about the fans."

Apart from two opportunities for Obafemi Martins, Newcastle struggled in the first half, with Michael Ballack, Kalou, John Mikel Obi and Shaun Wright-Phillips all spurning good chances. A scrappy goal rewarded Chelsea's pressure.

Wright–Phillips' shot struck Kalou and Michael Essien pounced before Steven Taylor could react.

Newcastle started the second period slowly but somehow grabbed an equaliser. Charles N'Zogbia drove into the box and found Martins, whose shot fell at the feet of Nicky Butt to force the ball goalwards, the final touch coming off the heel of Wayne Bridge.

But with Geordie thoughts of inflicting Chelsea's first home defeat in the league for nearly three years turning to a sense of satisfaction at a hard-earned point, Kalou broke the hearts of the Toon Army.

Allardyce must now lift his troops for Wednesday's visit of Manchester City. The ex-Bolton boss is promising a more expansive style of football against them and Michael Owen could start after coming on in the second half. Of course, Joey Barton will be denied the chance to take on his former club. Details of the assault and affray charges aside, Allardyce is simply unhappy that the player repaid his faith by staying out to the early hours.

"Of course I feel let down," said Allardyce. "But I've got to deal with that quietly and privately when the opportunity arises."