Steve Bruce was forced into one change from the side that comfortably beat Middlesbrough with Irish captain Kenny Cunningham missing through injury. Darren Purse made his first start for five months alongside Upson as Cunningham's replacement. Newcastle themselves had their fair share of absentees, with the likes of Alan Shearer and Gary Speed sidelined.
With the points holding far more significance for Newcastle due to their Champions League aspirations, it was no surprise that the home side came out of the blocks the quickest. Bellamy and Shola Ameobi were causing problems up front, whilst the non-stop duo Kieron Dyer and Jermaine Jenas were making their usual forays forward in support of their attackers.
Blues, however, did begin to get a foothold in the game, with Christophe Dugarry going close with a header, before the Frenchman set up Damien Johnson who forced Shay Given into a diving save with a neat headed effort. At the other end Bellamy fired wide twice, before being superbly denied by Ian Bennett in a one-on-one after a mistake by Purse.
The turning point of the game came in the 42nd minute. Bellamy again surged forward, and was being matched every step of the way by Upson. There was a coming together that appeared to be nothing more than shoulder to shoulder, but the Welsh striker went down, and Elleray, from 50 yards away, judged it to be a red card offence. His assistant, just ten yards away, incidentally didn't flag at all. However, this was Elleray's last game as a referee, so perhaps he felt that it wouldn't be a fitting departure from the sport without one last telling influence on a game. Upson trudged off, and Viana buried the free-kick past Bennett and over Jeff Kenna on the line.
At half-time Bruce replaced Kenna with Michael Johnson to allow Damien Johnson to take up an attacking right-back role. Whilst Newcastle enjoyed the lion's share of possession, as one would expect, Blues never gave in and created a number of chances themselves - most notably when Dugarry flicked a Stan Lazaridis cross straight at Given from no more than four yards. The home side though should really have wrapped up the points themselves with Dyer hitting the post, and Ameobi missing an even easier chance than Dugarry's, as Bellamy continued to terrorise Purse.
Thankfully at this late stage of the season, the result doesn't effect Blues too much, and with Newcastle needing the win to secure their 3rd place finish, it was always going to be a difficult place to go. The magnificent stadium though was a fitting place for Blues to finish their travels for this season, and with ten men for more than half the game, Blues came out of the game with their heads held high and by no means disgraced.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Bennett - Excellent
Kenna - So so
Clapham - Solid and good offensively
Upson - Assured until harsh dismissal
Purse - Struggled, but got better in the last 20 minutes
Johnson, D - Good all-round display
Hughes - Confident
Savage - Not at his best
Clemence - Caught in possession too many times
Horsfield - Toiled for 90 minutes to no avail
Dugarry - Only flashes of his ability
SUBS:
Johnson, M - Very good coming off the bench
Lazaridis - Made a real difference and caused problems
John - Little time to impact