AS if his side's insipid performance at Pride Park was not enough cause for concern, Sam Allardyce last night admitted that Michael Owen's injury curse had once again reared its head.

Owen was withdrawn in the 56th minute of Newcastle's 1-0 defeat to Derby nursing a groin strain that appeared to have affected his movement during the opening period.

Allardyce insists that the striker's substitution was a "precautionary measure", and is hoping he will be fit enough to face West Ham on Sunday.

But after Owen suffered a pre-season thigh strain that hampered his recovery from a long-term knee injury, the Magpies manager will be monitoring his progress carefully over the next 48 hours.

And given that Emile Heskey has already been ruled out of England's crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia after breaking a metatarsal at the weekend, Steve McClaren, who was at onlooker at Pride Park, will also be nervously awaiting an update on Owen's condition.

"Michael felt his groin a little bit at half-time," said Allardyce, who conceded that Owen's departure had made little difference to the outcome of last night's game. "We gave him the opportunity to go back on because he wanted to, but I didn't want to risk it after more than ten minutes or so.

"We pulled him off for precautionary reasons. We're hoping that it won't be too serious, but Michael was one of 14 players who were away on international duty last week and none of them have performed like they did before they left."

Newcastle's disjointed display stood in marked contrast to Derby's passionate performance, an effort that earned the Rams their first Premier League victory since they beat an Allardyce-led Bolton side five years ago.

Kenny Miller's long-range match-winner proved the difference between the two sides, with the former Celtic striker capping his Derby debut with a curling effort that arced beyond a motionless Steve Harper.

Miller spent the last two weeks recovering from a hamstring injury in the Midlands rather than linking up with Scotland, and Allardyce felt that Derby's extra drive was a direct result of their limited number of internationals.

"I don't suppose Billy had too many international players away," he said. "Certainly not as many as we had. If you've got two weeks to work at things, it has to be an advantage.

"I used to seek that advantage in the early stage of my time at Bolton. When bigger teams came to play us in the week following an international break, we always fancied our chances.

"Our players didn't hit their best tonight and they suffered the consequences of that. It was a wonder goal that beat them, but we were not pleased in our performance."

Allardyce admitted that Newcastle had been second best throughout last night's game, although he felt his side might have been awarded a penalty moments before Miller broke the deadlock.

"We think we should have had a penalty just prior to them scoring because Dean Leacock hauled David Rozehnal down," he said. "The referee was right in line and didn't give it, then they went down the field and won it with a wonder goal."

Newcastle reserves take on Manchester City at St James' Park tonight (ko 7pm) and season-ticket holders can gain free admission to the game.