Rovers were gifted an opening goal within three minutes of kick-off when Cheik Tiote surrendered possession to Brett Emerton inside his own penalty area and could only look on in horror as Morten Gamst Pedersen blasted a low right-foot shot across goalkeeper Tim Krul and into the bottom corner.
Pedersen saw a 16th-minute strike clip Andy Carroll and slip past the post and then thumped a free-kick into Krul's midriff on the stroke of half-time.
Chris Hughton opted for change at the break when Shola Ameobi was replaced by Nile Ranger, and his side were back on terms within two minutes of the restart. Joey Barton's floated free-kick allowed Carroll to get up above Christopher Samba to power a bullet header into the top corner.
Barton then appeared to flick out at Pedersen with his hand, although seemed astonished by his reaction.
With Newcastle doing most of the pressing, they were caught by a sucker punch when Roberts muscled Mike Williamson off Paul Robinson's clearance and tucked the ball past Krul.
Source: PA