Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell cursed his side's luck after Chris Morgan's own goal condemned them to a fourth straight defeat in the Championship.

Blades captain Morgan inadvertently deflected Ryan Taylor's 25-yard shot past wrong-footed goalkeeper Ian Bennett and into the bottom corner to secure Newcastle a 1-0 win that sent them back into top spot and heap more pressure on Blackwell.

Blackwell, who lost impressive defender Kyle Walker to an ankle injury and is now without 14 players from a 25-man first-team squad, said: "I'll admit it, I ran over a black cat about a month ago. I thought I got away with it, but I've been found out.

"What can you do? That's just typical of the last few weeks. Goals have gone in off someone's backside and it was a foul on Kyle Walker.

"But you don't get those decisions. I don't know.

"There wasn't much wrong. I thought we played very well. It was a top performance from a side that's a little bit short on luck at the moment."