It had been 54 years since Pompey last won at St James's Park and, among the 18 games in that period since 1949, there couldn't have been many as one-sided as this latest clash.

A resurgent and in-form Newcastle set about Pompey like no other team have done this season, and were good value for their fourth straight Premiership win. The only wonder was that the Magpies had only three goals to show for their complete superiority.

Local boy Shola Ameobi was the star of the show and, with his pace and strength, ran Pompey ragged from the off. The writing was on the wall after just 29 seconds when it took a desperate save from Shaka Hislop to deny him, but the graduate from the Newcastle Academy was the inspiration behind the Magpies' opener after 16 minutes.

He left Sebastien Schemmel in his wake down the left before his cross found its way through to Robert courtesy of a neat backheel from Bowyer.

The Frenchman Robert rolled a pass into the pass of the fast-arriving Gary Speed who hammered a low right-foot cross past the helpless Hislop from the edge of the penalty area.

High energy displays from Ameobi, Lee Bowyer and Laurent Robert in particular meant that an out of sorts-looking Pompey were always struggling to stem the tide, and the Blues might have gone behind earlier if referee Paul Durkin, like most observers, had seen Boris Zivkovic's seventh-minute tackle on Shearer as a penalty.

But the home fans were compensated, and the Magpies took a deserved two-goal lead, when on 27 minutes Durkin did point to the spot after Dejan Stefanovic had been adjudged to have handled Bowyers goal-bound shot. The Serbian defender was on the ground and could do little to avoid the contact so the decision looked a harsh one. Shearer took his chance to score his first-ever goal against Pompey, shooting past Hislop from the penalty.

Newcastle continued to dominate after the break, and although Patrik Berger sent a dipping shot just over the bar, and Sheringham forced Given to make an excellent one-handed save the inevitable third goal killed off their chances of a comeback. Speed's curling left-foot cross found Ameobi unmarked on 61 minutes and he looped in Newcastle's third in off the underside of the bar.

The Magpies appeared to ease off that third decisive goal and twice in the last 15 minutes Pompey nearly pulled one back. Fist Given misjudged a Yakubu cross and Stone almost scrambled the loose ball into the vacant net. Then, from a rare Pompey corner, Quashie picked out Sheringham but the former England striker mistimed his jump and headed well wide.

But Pompey showed none of the form or desire which had brought the previous week's famous victory over Liverpool and were outplayed for long periods to the delight of the 50,000-plus vibrant Tyneside fans.

The defeat took the Blues into the bottom half of the Premiership for the first time this season, and they now face a further daunting prospect next weekend with a visit to Manchester United.