SAM Allardyce insists he has no regrets about not having a goalkeeper on the substitutes' bench at the Reebok on Saturday.

The Wanderers' boss saw his side crash to a 4-0 defeat after being just 1-0 down when Jussi Jaaskelainen was sent off for handling the ball outside his penalty area under pressure from Alan Shearer.

But the manager maintains he had no alternative and doubts that a sub keeper would have had any bearing on the result.

With Steve Banks ruled out with a dislocated finger, youth teamer Chris Williams also injured and unable to find suitable loan cover, he knew he was taking a gamble which appeared to have proved costly when Bo Hansen, who had to take over for the last half hour, beaten three times.

However, that was not the turning point in Allardyce's eyes. He believes the key moment came three minutes from the end of the first half when referee Mike Riley and his assistant failed to spot Nolberto Solano in an offside position when the Peruvian got the touch that put Newcastle ahead.

"It was obviously well offside," the manager said. "I can state that categorically because we have video straight into our dressing room at half time. We can re-assess anything we wish to re-assess and the officials have got it horribly wrong for us. We were not only frustrated by some of the referee's decisions in terms of what he didn't give us and what he gave to them but we had another case of the referee's assistant not doing his job right with what are major major, crucial crucial, huge huge decisions that turn games.

"When you've lost two games at home previously, thats the last thing you want to happen.

"We came off at half time 1-0 down and it was not our own fault. After that we have to take the responsibility for not doing our jobs correctly ... for not being patient enough to play our way back into the game. But, saying that, our start to the second half was fantastic. The bottom line is that the chances created were very, very good yet we didn't get either goals or even shots on target.

"Right up to Jussi getting sent off there was absolutely nothing between the teams. He handled outside the box and that's the letter of the law. The ultimate punishment for us came when they scored directly from the free kick. We may have had a little sniff if we had got over that and kept it at 1-0 until we reorganised. We might even have nicked something but after that the game was over and they punished us from there."

Allardyce maintained he had little option but to leave Jaaskelainen without cover.

"I have no real regrets about not putting Steve Banks on the bench," he said. "He wasn't really fit and had he been called on to make a save he might have dislocated his finger again. So we took a calculated gamble ... but not having a goalkeeper on the bench did not play a relevant part in the result because I couldn't fault Bo Hansen for any of the goals. In fact he made a couple of good saves."

Wanderers drew comfort from the fact that they created chances before the wheel fell off but three successive home defeats in which they have failed to score have highlighted problems the manager knows must be resolved quickly if they are to stop the slide becoming a slump.

"We've lost our defensive unit edge," he suggested. "We didn't defend as well as we have normally done so we have to make sure we convert those chances we are creating while making sure at the other end when we haven't got the ball that we don't let the opposition in."