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Full Time After Extra Time This is a live match. Extra Time Half Time

Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.

St James' Park, NewcastleAttendance46,420.

Newcastle United 2

  • D Ba (48th minute)
  • S Ameobi (86th minute)

Tottenham Hotspur 2

  • R van der Vaart (40th minute pen)
  • J Defoe (68th minute)

Ameobi keeps Magpies flying high

Shola Ameobi came off the bench to net a last-gasp equaliser as Newcastle maintained their unbeaten start in a 2-2 draw with Spurs.

Toon snatch point to maintain unbeaten start

Shola Ameobi came off the bench to net a last-gasp equaliser as Newcastle maintained their unbeaten start in a dramatic 2-2 draw with Tottenham at St James' Park. Alan Pardew's men have now gone eight games without defeat to leave them flying high in fourth in the Premier League, while Spurs' could not prevent their four-game winning streak coming to an end. Harry Redknapp's visitors had opened the scoring late in the first half when Steven Taylor appeared to bring down Emmanuel Adebayor inside the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Rafael van der Vaart made no mistake in converting the spot-kick, sending Toon goalkeeper Tim Krul the wrong way to put Spurs in the lead. Demba Ba pulled the hosts level, poking home a sublime Jonas Gutierrez cross soon after the restart, but Tottenham appeared to have finished the job 20 minutes later when substitute Jermain Defoe turned on Scott Parker's pass on the edge of the area and smashed a left-footed shot home. However, Ameobi was the hero of the afternoon for the home side as fellow substitute Hatem Ben Arfa played him in to fire home the decisive equaliser.

Toughest test

Newcastle ran out knowing they were facing perhaps the toughest test of their campaign to date, but confident that they could come through it. For 40 minutes, they gave as good as they got in a game in which the impetus repeatedly shifted between the sides. Spurs started brightly with Gareth Bale having been switched to the right wing to chance his arm against makeshift left-back Ryan Taylor. In the event, the former Wigan man coped admirably and long before half-time Bale returned to his more usual position on the left, leaving Taylor to deal with Luka Modric instead. The visitors passed the ball confidently in the opening exchanges with Newcastle old boy Parker and Modric prominent, and Adebayor, whose participation was in doubt because of a hamstring injury, stretching the home defence at regular intervals. That said, chances were few and far between, and although Krul had to race from his line to snatch Van der Vaart's seventh-minute through-ball off Adebayor's toe and then pluck a looping Jake Livermore header out of the air four minutes later, there were few genuine scares for the Dutchman. As the half wore on, the Magpies warmed to their task and with wide-men Gabriel Obertan and Gutierrez causing problems and Yohan Cabaye and Cheick Tiote edging things in the middle of the pitch, they started to threaten. Leon Best only just failed to get a toe to Ryan Taylor's driven 13th-minute free-kick and Ba headed straight at keeper Brad Friedel from Cabaye's cross 11 minutes later. But the breakthrough arrived five minutes before half-time, and it did so to the horror of Newcastle defender Steven Taylor. Taylor tracked Adebayor's run into the penalty area and saw the former Togo international go down under his challenge. Referee Lee Probert took his time with the defender protesting his innocence but eventually pointed to the spot and, amid a cacophony of boos from the home fans, Van der Vaart sent Krul the wrong way to open the scoring. Ba headed high over from Cabaye's 42nd-minute cross as the Magpies attempted to drag themselves back into the game, but they headed for the dressing room on the whistle knowing they had a tough task on their hands. Newcastle needed just three minutes to get themselves back on terms, and they did so in some style as Gutierrez produced a wonderful, mazy run. The Argentina international skipped pass Modric and then full-back Kyle Walker on the left before crossing for the unmarked Ba to slide in and send the ball goalwards, where Friedel could only carry it into his own net. Sensing an opportunity to win the game, the Magpies piled forward in numbers, but in doing so, opened themselves up to Spurs' pace on the counter-attack. Adebayor fired across the face of goal and Van der Vaart shot straight at Krul with the home defence struggling to keep the visitors at bay. But in the meantime, Obertan had whistled a 56th-minute drive just wide of Friedel's far post in a frenetic passage of play.
Pace
Redknapp opted for even more pace with 63 minutes gone when he replaced Van der Vaart with Defoe, and the newcomer wasted little time in making his mark. Having already forced Krul to sprint from his line to cut out Parker's through-ball, he turned smartly on the midfielder's pass to thump a left-footed shot past the keeper and into the bottom corner. Pardew threw on Hatem Ben Arfa and Ameobi after withdrawing Ba and Best with 19 minutes remaining, and it was the home side which finished the stronger. Friedel had to pull off fine saves from Tiote and then Ryan Taylor as time ran down, but there was nothing he could do to prevent Ameobi from snatching a point with his drilled 86th-minute strike. Defoe and Fabricio Coloccini both might have won it in a breathless conclusion, but the spoils were ultimately shared.
Newcastle United Team Statistics Tottenham Hotspur
2 Goals 2
0 1st Half Goals 1
6 Shots on Target 6
5 Shots off Target 3
2 Blocked Shots 4
5 Corners 2
11 Fouls 15
4 Offsides 3
1 Yellow Cards 2
0 Red Cards 0
77.9 Passing Success 74.7
20 Tackles 25
75 Tackles Success 80
54.9 Possession 45.1
57.9 Territorial Advantage 42.1
448 Total Passes 372
28 Total Crosses 10
180 Lost Balls 168
79 Recoveries 65

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