Stephen Ireland scored a late equaliser as Newcastle and Manchester City played out a dramatic 2-2 draw.
Ireland nets late equaliser on dramatic night
Stephen Ireland scored a late equaliser as Newcastle and Manchester City played out a dramatic 2-2 draw.
City were awarded a controversial penalty in the 14th minute when Habib Beye was sent off by referee Rob Styles despite appearing to win the ball in a challenge with Robinho and the Brazilian slotted home the spot-kick.
Newcastle battled back and drew level at 1-1 just before half-time when the ball broke for Shola Ameobi and the striker sliced a shot past Joe Hart.
The Magpies continued to push forward at the start of the second half and were rewarded when Richard Dunne inadvertently turned Geremi's corner into his own net after 63 minutes.
Shay Given pulled off an excellent save from Ireland late on but the City midfielder was not to be denied and salvaged a point for his side four minutes from time.
Horror start
Beye had earlier handed his manager a boost by recovering from the Achilles injury which had sidelined him since the end of August, but his return was to end prematurely and in controversial circumstances.
Robinho looked to have got the better of the Senegal international as he burst into the box, but the defender dived in to poke the ball away.
However, to his horror, referee Styles pointed to the spot and to compound Beye's astonishment, then produced a red card despite replays suggesting he had a good case.
Keeper Given pleaded with Styles to consult his assistant, who had not flagged for the incident, but he was having none of it and the distraught defender had to go.
Robinho calmly converted from 12 yards, sending the keeper the wrong way and leaving a club without a league win since 23rd August with a mountain to climb.
It could have been worse with Jo only just failing to covert a deflected Robinho shot and former Magpie Dietmar Hamann heading a Javier Garrido corner inches over with the Magpies at sixes and sevens.
But as they did at Everton a fortnight ago, Joe Kinnear's men found a fighting spirit in adversity and managed to drag themselves back into the game.
They could have been level 10 minutes before the break when Obafemi Martins and Ameobi combined to set up Damien Duff, although his shot was saved easily by Hart.
However, the equaliser did arrive nine minutes later when Dunne smashed a clearance against the unwitting Duff and when the ball ricocheted to Ameobi, he controlled and managed to steer it past the keeper to repay Kinnear's faith in him.
Handful
Both Sebastien Bassong and Martins were guilty of handing City possession deep in enemy territory within seconds of the restart, but Ireland was unable to make the most of a promising opening.
But for all City once again dominated possession, Newcastle repeatedly threatened on the break with Duff and Martins, who had adapted well to the role of left-sided midfielder after a shaky start following the reorganisation caused by Beye's departure, keeping City on their toes.
Ameobi too was proving a handful for Dunne to give the home crowd genuine hope that there was more to come.
Their prayers were answered with 64 minutes gone when, in his attempt to clear Geremi's right-wing corner, Dunne smashed the ball into the roof of his own net to send St James' Park into raptures.
But the job was far from complete and Steven Taylor was relieved to see a shot from substitute Ched Evans loop up off him and clear the bar, with Jo doing the same with the header from the resulting corner.
Given produced a stunning save to deny Ireland six minutes from time, but he could not repeat the feat two minutes later as the midfielder fired home from close range to claim a point.
| Newcastle United |
Team Statistics |
Manchester City |
| 2 |
Goals |
2 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
8 |
| 3 |
Shots off Target |
14 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
6 |
| 5 |
Corners |
10 |
| 15 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 5 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 1 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 66.7 |
Passing Success |
88.3 |
| 26 |
Tackles |
22 |
| 73.1 |
Tackles Success |
68.2 |
| 28.1 |
Possession |
71.9 |
| 47.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
52.9 |
|
