Local hero Shola Ameobi came off the bench to ensure
Newcastle's unbeaten start to the season remained intact
with an entertaining 2-2 draw against Tottenham at St
James' Park.
The substitute blasted home his side's second equaliser
four minutes from time as a pulsating encounter ended
all square.
Jermain Defoe looked to have won it for the visitors
when he fired past Tim Krul with 68 minutes gone, but
Ameobi denied Spurs a fifth successive Premier League
win to the delight of the majority of the 46,420 crowd.
Rafael van der Vaart had put Harry Redknapp's men ahead
from the penalty spot five minutes before the break,
but Demba Ba's equaliser - his fifth goal in three games
- within three minutes of the restart set the scene
for the late drama.
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 Scott Parker and Modric
prominent, and Emmanuel 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 Jonas 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.
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.
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