The brutal reality of the rivalry

IT was hard not to leave St James' Park after Newcastle's 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa feeling a little bit deflated.

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Not necessarily with the manner of Newcastle's performance but more the way in which they were beaten by a direct rival whose performances have always been used as a yardstick with which to compare the club's progress against.

For the last three years, both Newcastle and Aston Villa have been neck and neck in their pursuit to disrupt the Premier League's big six.

Their progress against each other has been to-ing and fro-ing in that time but Newcastle were left in no doubt on Sunday as to which team currently holds the superiority in that debate.