HE might have been dubbed the 'Invisible Man' because of his seven-month spell on the sidelines, but Craig Moore insists he was even angrier than Newcastle's long-suffering fans when he was forced to sit out the majority of the season.

Moore was one of former manager Graeme Souness' six summer signings, joining on a free transfer from German side Borussia Moenchengladbach at the end of last July.

He made his first appearance for the Magpies in a pre-season win over Yeading, but quickly suffered a hamstring tear that kept him out of the opening month of the campaign.

Things got worse when he returned to training, with a second tear inflicting further damage and forcing him onto the sidelines for the best part of half-a-year.

By the time he eventually regained full fitness again, Souness had been dismissed and he had become the butt of jokes being levelled at the Scotsman's expense.

With Albert Luque and Jean-Alain Boumsong having been labelled expensive flops, Moore was seen as yet another example of Souness' failure in the transfer market.

But, while the Australia international sympathises with the supporters' disillusion, he feels it is wrong to write him off before he has had the opportunity to prove himself in the first team.

And, with his performance in Saturday's 3-1 win over Tottenham having been warmly received, the centre-half is hoping to make even more of an impression in the final six games of the season.

"People have been frustrated at the amount of time I was out," admitted Moore, who still has half of his two-year contract to run.

"It was frustrating for everyone, from the chairman to the fans, but as you can imagine, it was more frustrating for me than it was for anyone else.

"I had just joined a new club and I was desperate to prove myself but, unfortunately, the chance to do that was taken away from me for the majority of the season. Something like that is very hard to take.

"It was a hamstring injury that, at first, was nothing more than a slight tear. I did my rehab but, when I looked to come in the reserves, I ruptured it good and proper the second time. The worst thing about it all is that there was nothing I could have done."

At least the 30-year-old has an opportunity to make amends now.

With Boumsong short of form and Titus Bramble lacking fitness, Moore has emerged as a key figure at the heart of Newcastle's makeshift defence.

His performances could go a long way towards determining whether the Magpies are able to clamber into the top half of the table before the end of the season and, on a more personal level, his displays in the last six games are likely to be decisive in terms of his World Cup place.

Despite being Australia's skipper, Moore was barred from attending Guus Hiddink's recent training camp in Holland, with Glenn Roeder insisting he regained full fitness on Tyneside before furthering his international ambitions.

Hiddink has insisted he will only pick players who have been playing regular first-team football in the final stages of the season. Despite Bramble's imminent return from injury, that is likely to be the case with Moore.

"At this moment in time I am not even thinking about the World Cup," said the former Crystal Palace and Rangers defender. "With six games to go this season, anything can happen. I am just really excited to have played a couple of games.

"I was getting worried about the World Cup when the injury was taking longer than I anticipated, although my first thoughts were always about getting fit for Newcastle.

"The World Cup was a long way down the line at that stage and I always knew that, if I didn't play for Newcastle, Australia would have been irrelevant."

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