Last minute defeat enrages Andrew

'At least we are trying to play the game but we're not being allowed to by referees who let the opposition go all over the ball at the break- down. It' s a mess, and until it's cleared up to allow quick ball we won't have a decent game.

'Referees have to be accountable. This guy is a professional and we will be looking at every one of his decisions fairly closely.'

Although Maybank's penalty count fell short of his tally for the two previous weekends - 26 compared to 31 and 35 - he still had the final word and in that respect he has been nothing if not consistent.

At Wasps the previous Sunday, he awarded a penalty try in the eighth minute of stoppage time. Bath won at London Irish the Sunday before that when Olly Barkley landed a long-range penalty awarded by Maybank in the seventh extra minute.

Yesterday, Newcastle were also in the seventh minute of stoppage time when Paul, appearing before a crowd that included England coach Andy Robinson, gave a small but vocal band of Gloucester fans something to shout about on the 300-mile journey home.

Ludovic Mercier's leg injury meant Paul switched from fly half to full back in a match which began with Newcastle stand off Jonny Wilkinson's aerial bombardment. Paul said: 'We tried to nullify Jonny as best we could but he still had a great game.'

Five minutes before the crucial penalty, Newcastle's substitute flanker, Epi Taione, had sprinted 50 yards to score behind the posts. It was Taione's first appearance against Gloucester since he was sent off last season along with opposing hooker Olivier Azam, who was later cleared by the RFU of racially abusing the Tongan.

Wilkinson's conversion made the score 19-19. Despite their habit of failing to protect the ball against a shuddering defence, Newcastle deserved the draw if only for their perseverance in running the ball from the deep positions imposed on them by Gloucester's territorial supremacy.

For all that, Gloucester could manage only one try, a pushover at a time when Hugh Vyvyan's sin- binning for obstruction left the Newcastle pack a man short.

Apart from the second half against Sale, when they let rip, Gloucester have still to get into their stride, which sounds ominous for the rest. However, the most staggering fact this morning is that they are already eight points and six places above Leicester.