Carew's hat-trick sinks Newcastle

LONDON, England -- John Carew scored a second-half hat-trick as Aston Villa came from a goal down to beat Newcastle United 4-1 at Villa Park and leave Kevin Keegan still searching for a first league victory after his much-heralded return to the Magpies.

Newcastle, without a win in eight games, are now seven points clear of the relegation zone, yet their afternoon began brightly with Michael Owen giving them a fourth minute lead.

They were still in front at half-time and seemed to have cause for optimism, but that changed when Wilfred Bouma's first goal in 76 games for Villa brought the scores level three minutes after the restart.

Newcastle cracked and Carew helped himself to a treble.

Owen raised the spirits of Keegan's men with his early strike, outpacing his markers and heading past Scott Carson with the help of a deflection off Gareth Barry.

Villa created little in the first period but were perhaps unfortunate when Barry's 20-yard drive appeared to hit Joey Barton's hand in the area. It also looked as though Barton has pushed Shaun Maloney to the ground.

Bouma turned the game when his low 20-yard shot flew past Shay Given after a deflection off Habib Beye. Three minutes later Carew headed Villa in front from Ashley Young's corner.

Given had to go off injured and replacement Steve Harper was beaten after 72 minutes when a cross was not cleared and Carew accepted a simple close-range chance.

In the final minute Stephen Carr handled in the area and Villa's usual penalty-taker Barry allowed Carew to complete his hat-trick from the spot.

The defeat left Newcastle looking over their shoulder at the franctic relegation battle which took further twists and turns in later matches on Saturday.

Reading dropped into the relegation zone for the first time as they lost 1-0 at Everton with Phil Jagielka scoring the only goal in the second half. It was a seventh successive defeat for Reading, while Everton cemented their hold on the final Champions League place in fourth with the victory.

Birmingham switched places with Reading after securing a 1-1 draw at West Ham, but Bolton lost 1-0 at home to Portsmouth.

Sunderland's hopes of avoiding the drop also rose with a 2-0 home win over fellow strugglers Wigan Athletics.

The bottom two both lost, Derby being thrashed 3-0 at home by Tottenham Hotspur, with Robbie Keane scoring the decisive opener for Spurs, and Fulham losing 1-0 at Middlesbrough, who are pulling clear of trouble. E-mail to a friend