Emile Mpenza's second goal in as many games claimed another precious three points to ease City to within a point of the 11th-placed Magpies.

However, despite the win, which came a fortnight after a 2-0 success at Middlesbrough, Pearce is taking nothing for granted.

He said: "I said some months ago it is going to be very tight right to the end of the season, probably up until the last game.

"At the moment for me, any three teams from eight could be relegated, and we are one of the eight.

"I knew that at Christmas and I certainly know it now. We have some tough matches between now and the end of the season, but when you have to win matches, every game is a tough game, and that applies to any of the eight teams at the bottom of the table."

Asked if Newcastle were one of the right sides still needed to secure their Barclays Premiership place, Pearce replied: "They are one of the eight - we are a point behind them.

"With Charlton and West Ham winning today, they have condensed the teams above them very tightly and Sheffield United v Newcastle is a massive game next week and us against Charlton is a massive game.

"There is a hell of a lot to play for."

However, Newcastle boss Roeder bristled at the suggestion he should be looking over his shoulder.

He said: "It has not crossed my mind. I never talk about other teams, Stuart talks for himself."

Mpenza's strike settled a game of few chances, although apart from a late flurry in which Steven Taylor hit the bar and Stephen Carr and substitute Oguchi Onyewu went close, City had some of the better ones.

The Belgian also hit the bar with a thumping drive before the break as the visitors frustrated a lacklustre Newcastle, who were booed from the pitch by their own fans at half-time and on the final whistle.

Roeder, who saw a first-half Scott Parker strike controversially ruled out for offside, said: "I understand their frustration - I was very frustrated myself that we found it difficult to break them down.

"People do not realise how difficult it is playing against a team who get so many men behind the ball.

"When that happens, you must score that first goal to bring them out to play.

"When Scott Parker's goal was disallowed, they sat in, they were patient, they waited and they punished us for a mistake on the counter-attack.

"They had once chance, the lad drove it home and that was it. They did not have another chance of any consequence. Ironically, the few chances that came our way - and they were good chances - were after we went one down."

The Magpies went into the game still clinging to faint hopes of securing European football, and although that has now surely gone, Roeder is adamant he will not allow the campaign to fizzle out.

He said: "I can only go to work with the players, which I will do as hard as I ever do working towards the game at Sheffield United.

"They players' disappointment in the dressing room was huge that they had lost a game they knew they should not have lost.

"It would have been disappointing to have taken only a point today, but to have lost the game is a double whammy."

Meanwhile, Pearce shed little light on the ankle ligament injury which saw full-back Micah Richards carried off on a stretcher in England's 3-0 win over Andorra in midweek.

He said: "He has got a sore ankle, but hopefully he will not be out too long."