GRAEME Souness last night warned his Newcastle players that they would be risking his health if they produced too many repeats of yesterday's thrilling 4-3 win over Manchester City.

The United boss, who underwent a triple heart bypass during his time as Liverpool manager, watched on in disbelief as his side twice surrendered the lead in the second half.

But, against a side managed by Newcastle's self-styled 'Entertainer' Kevin Keegan, Souness was introduced to the crazier side of life at St James' Park with just 60 seconds left on the clock.

Craig Bellamy fired in a dramatic late winner to make it three home wins out of three under the Scotsman, and lift the Magpies up to seventh in the Premiership table.

"When I walked into the dressing room, I had to remind them that I've had open heart surgery and there's no way I can have this every week," said Souness, who is still unbeaten since replacing Sir Bobby Robson last month.

"If there were any neutrals here, I think they'd be purring about what a great game of football it was.

"It became a game that anyone could have won in the second half but, psychologically, coming back to regain the lead twice was really, really encouraging for us.

"We've done very well because we're the team that spent five hours on a plane to Athens, five hours back, and played a hard game on Thursday night.

"City were better prepared because they've been rested up all week with nothing to concentrate on other than this game."

Even by Newcastle's standards, Bellamy's winner capped a particularly strange week for the Wales international.

He was being cast as the villain last weekend, after a verbal assault on Souness at the Valley set the scene for a training ground altercation that was to overshadow United's midweek trip to Greece.

But, just a week later, Bellamy was the hero as his quick feet fired in Newcastle's fourth following earlier strikes from Laurent Robert, Alan Shearer and Robbie Elliott.

"This is the mad business we're in," said Souness. "He makes the headlines last week for the wrong reasons, and then makes them again this week for the right ones.

"He's won us the game with that goal and you can see how our crowd react to him.

"I'm sure him and I will have our moments in the future, but there's one thing that is not in doubt.

"Craig Bellamy is a man who wants to win in everything he does, even if that's arguments with the manager that sometimes he's going to have to accept he won't win.

"You want to work with people who will not lie down and he's someone who wants to win in anything. If he maintains that, then he's a proper player."

Keegan is no stranger to 4-3 defeats but, rather than lashing out at the inadequacies of his own defenders, the former Newcastle boss blamed the defeat on referee Steve Dunn.

"The referee was not strong enough and made too many mistakes," said Keegan. "He got too many decisions wrong. I'm not saying that they were all vital decisions, but they certainly changed the game.

"To a man, my players are livid with the referee. I'm the one that's got to speak for them and I'll be the one that's risking getting a fine.

"It's a difficult enough place to come if you have a neutral referee making all the right decisions - but I'm not telling you anything I haven't told him."

Souness accepted that Dunn did not enjoy an error-free afternoon, but felt the helter-skelter nature of the game was partly to blame.

"I'm not going to get into trouble talking about referees when we win," he joked.

"I don't know that either of the penalty decisions was a penalty because Nicky Butt maintains he got a foot onto the ball and, from where I was looking, our penalty looked a bit harsh.

"There will be times when I'm criticising referees, but referees are making split-second decisions in a game that's so fast and furious now, they will inevitably get some things wrong.

"I hope I can say that if we've lost a game - but I doubt that we will."

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