Jose Mourinho was left complaining about ball-boys and spectators after seeing his Chelsea side's unbeaten start to the season come to an end at Newcastle.
The Portuguese could only look on as substitute Papiss Cisse struck twice after the break, making Didier Drogba's late header after defender Steven Taylor had been dismissed irrelevant with the home side holding out for a 2-1 victory.
Mourinho has yet to win a Barclays Premier League game against Newcastle, but his only complaint was about the length of time it took the ball to arrive back on the pitch after it had gone out of play.
He said: "You need one ball. Sometimes we had no balls and other times we had two balls. They scored only the only two times they crossed the halfway line and scored two strange goals because of rebounds. We were unlucky."
Opposite number Alan Pardew, however, laughed off Mourinho's suggestion the ball-boy ploy was deliberate.
He said: "That's harsh. There was a bit of confusion, but come on, it was an unbelievable performance."
Chelsea arrived on Tyneside defending a 21-game unbeaten run since the start of the season and they began in ominous fashion with Diego Costa restored to the side after suspension and Oscar, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas buzzing about behind him. But after an even first half, it was the home side who ended the deadlock after 57 minutes gone when Gary Cahill failed to cut out Shola Ameobi's left-wing cross and Cisse slid home from close range. Mourinho sent on Luis and Drogba for Cesar Azpilicueta and Willian in a bid to inject fresh impetus into his team.
But their hopes were dashed when Moussa Sissoko broke at pace to set up Cisse, who made no mistake.
Chelsea were given late hope when Taylor, who had earlier been booked for a foul on Willian, lunged at Andre Schurrle and was cautioned a second time, and Drogba glanced the resulting free kick past third-choice keeper Jak Alnwick.
But even with six minutes added on, they were unable to deny the 10 men victory.
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