SIR BOBBY ROBSON and Alan Shearer have reiterated their anger at being forced to play two games in 40 hours - and warned it could cost the club its chance of a Champions League spot.

Newcastle took to the field at Molineux on Saturday lunchtime following their Thursday night game at home to Basel in the UEFA Cup.

When the club agreed to the 12.30pm kick-off against Wolves, they believed they would be playing in the Champions League on the Tuesday or Wednesday previous.

But their failure to overcome Partizan Belgrade in the qualifying round meant the Magpies were forced into the UEFA Cup, and Thursday night European encounters.

Shearer said: "It was a ridiculous decision for us to play today.

"I hope it doesn't come back to haunt us - this was a game we could have won. I think a point was fair in the end, but you could tell in the last 15 to 20 minutes that we ran out of steam."

Robson knows his side would have been better prepared for the Wolves match had it been played on Sunday, and their chances of recording a win would have been far greater.

The Newcastle boss made three changes from the team which beat Basel 1-0 at St James' Park, on Thursday, resting Laurent Robert, Andy O'Brien and Shola Ameobi. He said: "It's asking too much of the players. If you drop points then the club has to understand that.

"The way the game's played now in the Premiership it's about power and pace. There's an enormous amount of energy in these sort of games.

"We don't know had we played tomorrow whether we would have won or drawn. All we know is that we would have had a better chance.

"Playing on Thursday didn't help us and I have to say that because it's a huge demand on players. One or two looked a bit weary."

Robson admitted the decision to play the game at lunchtime on a Saturday was taken when Newcastle believed they would be involved in the Champions League.

"We asked if we played at a later date, and therefore lost the money as Wolves would have, could we pick up another Sky game at a later date," he said.

"They said that would be highly unlikely. We tried to move the Basel game forward to Tuesday or Wednesday but UEFA said no because those were Champions League evenings.

"One of the reasons we said yes to Sky was that we were thinking that we would be playing on the Tuesday or Wednesday in the Champions League.

"The last time it happened was against Arsenal. We played Wednesday and then Friday night at Arsenal when we lost 3-2 in the last minutes as it happened.

"We have to be careful that we don't do this too many times."

Their views were supported by former Sunderland midfielder Alex Rae. "If I was a Newcastle player I would not have been happy at playing a second match in less than 40 hours," said the Wolves player.

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