Fabricio Coloccini has endured a miserable existence, with club and country, over the past year. As Newcastle United slid from crisis to chaos to farce, Argentina have descended into similar disarray in their attempts, under Diego Maradona, to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals.

Nine days ago, Coloccini sat on the bench — an unused substitute — as Argentina lost 3-1 to Brazil in Rosario. He did not even merit a place among the replacements in Asunción on Wednesday, when Maradona’s misfits lost again, 1-0 to Paraguay.

But at least Newcastle’s show is back on the road, the straggle-haired Coloccini doing his bit against Cardiff City yesterday. He headed his first goal for the club, from a cross in the first half from Ryan Taylor, and did his rugged best to keep out Cardiff’s mediocre efforts.

A six-match unbeaten run in the league — and a sixth successive victory in all competitions — has enabled Newcastle to reclaim top spot in the Coca-Cola Championship and Chris Hughton is proving a capable caretaker manager.

“There are matches when you want to play a bit more openly but this game was very tough and we had to compete strongly,” Hughton said of an obdurate, attritional display.

The key to Newcastle is that, by necessity, they have got rid of their pretty players. Those who chose to remain include Coloccini, Alan Smith, Joey Barton, Steven Taylor, Kevin Nolan and Danny Guthrie. The grafters. A bearded Smith, reinventing himself as a holding midfield player and captain, led from the front, albeit the front of the Newcastle defence. Two yellow cards for fouls did add up to a red, in injury time, but he had long since provided the team inspiration to blunt the home threat.

Cardiff huffed, puffed and could find no way through, a record crowd watching them fall to a first defeat in their new £48 million stadium. Dave Jones, their manager, said that his side should have been awarded a “golden, stonewall” penalty, when Steven Taylor appeared to handle a shot by Michael Chopra near the end, but he was clutching at straws.

Cardiff City (4-4-2): D Marshall — P Quinn, M Hudson, A Gerrard, A Capaldi — C Burke, G Rae, J Ledley, P Whittingham (sub: K Etuhu, 68min) — M Chopra, J Bothroyd. Substitutes not used: P Enckelman, M Kennedy, G Gyepes, S McPhail, S Taiwo, A Matthews.

Newcastle United (4-1-3-1-1): S Harper — D Simpson, S Taylor, F Coloccini, J Enrique — A Smith — R Taylor (sub: N Butt, 76), K Nolan, J Barton (sub: Gérémi, 87) — D Guthrie (sub: P Lovenkrands, 62) — N Ranger. Substitutes not used: T Krul, K LuaLua, T Kadar, R Donaldson. Booked: Enrique, Guthrie, Smith. Sent off: Smith.

Referee: A Hall. Attendance: 25,630.