Watching Newcastle United disintegrate at Ewood Park was football’s equivalent to car-crash television, a strangely compelling sight from which it was difficult to avert one’s gaze.

Having dominated the first half, Joe Kinnear’s team capitulated in almost every conceivable way, with the dismissal of Nicky Butt and an altercation between Joey Barton and José Enrique, after Blackburn’s third goal, indicative of a deeper malaise at the heart of the club.

It was left to Kinnear, the manager, to put a brave face on the latest setback and point to his team’s crippling injury list as the main explanation for a sequence of one point from the past four matches. That such a line of defence also allowed him a veiled critique of the man sat on the opposite bench at Ewood Park was, presumably, incidental.

“Yes, I think I can see light at the end of the tunnel,” Kinnear said. “Once we get two or three players back fully fit, really fully fit, I think we’ll be alright, I really do.

“I’m an optimist, I know everyone else will be saying something different. Only time will tell but I’m very confident we will stay up. I’ve just been riddled with injuries for the past six weeks, I haven’t picked a team since I’ve been here back to back.

“I’m not having a knock at the previous managers but whoever did their homework on the squad needs to take a long look at it because we haven’t got any back-up.”

Kinnear says that he has £10 million to spend in the transfer window and his primary decision is whether to invest that money in one player or, his preference, in two players that his squad so obviously needs.

That Blackburn, who have collected eight points from four games under Sam Allardyce, the former Newcastle manager, could rely upon a bench featuring players such as Roque Santa Cruz, David Dunn and Vince Grella showed how much healthier his new employers are compared with Newcastle’s.

“Santa Cruz, Grella and Dunn coming on, they were players that started to open up Newcastle more and more,” Allardyce said.

“They’re fresh and skilful players, and showed their abilities when they came on. It’s not about 11, it’s about 20 players. To have a strong bench, when you’re in difficulty – and we were in the first half – I can turn round and say I’ve got something here that can change the game in our favour. That happened today.”

Staggeringly, Newcastle had opened the game far more enterprisingly than the home side with Keith Andrews clearing a header by Andy Carroll off the line. But their second-half collapse was absolute.

A clumsy lunge by David Edgar on Benni McCarthy allowed the South Africa forward to score from the penalty spot in the 61st minute while Jason Roberts added the other two goals, direct from Paul Robinson’s long ball and, in the 86th minute, from Morten Gamst Pedersen’s perfect cross.

With the game long since decided, Barton and Enrique had to be separated by Sébastien Bassong as they argued over the third goal and Butt was shown a second yellow card for a petulant hack at Dunn.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): P Robinson 6 – A Ooijer 6, C Samba 6 (sub: D Dunn, 45min, 7), R Nelsen 7, S Warnock 6 – B Emerton 7, Tugay Kerimoglu 6 (sub: V Grella, 58, 7), K Andrews 7, M G Pedersen 7 – B McCarthy 7 (sub: R Santa Cruz, 69, 6), J Roberts 8. Substitutes not used: M Bunn, A Mokoena, K Treacy, M Derbyshire. Booked: Grella, Roberts. Next: Bolton Wanderers (h).

Newcastle United (4-4-2): S Given 6 – D Edgar 5, F Coloccini 6, S Bassong 6, J Enrique 5 – D Duff 5 (sub: J Gutiérrez 78), D Guthrie 6, N Butt 5, C N’Zogbia 5 (sub: J Barton, 73) – M Owen 5, A Carroll 6. Substitutes not used: S Harper, Xisco, S Taylor, T Kadar, K Lualua. Booked: Edgar, Butt, Barton. Sent off: Butt. Next: Manchester City (a).

Referee R Styles Attendance 25,583