Stephen Ireland denied 10-man Newcastle a precious Premier League victory with a last-gasp equaliser at St James' Park.
Manchester City looked to be cruising to victory when Habib Beye was harshly sent off for a 12th-minute challenge on Robinho, who calmly converted the resulting penalty.
But Joe Kinnear's men once again discovered the character which had served them so well at Everton last time out and, remarkably, they were within four minutes of victory when Ireland struck.
Shola Ameobi, with his first Premier League goal since October 15, 2006, had earlier cancelled out Robinho's opener, and when City skipper Richard Dunne sliced a Geremi corner into his own net, three points were within the Magpies' grasp.
However, Ireland rescued a draw for his side, and might even have won it had it not been for a superb late save from Shay Given and another effort which flew agonisingly past the far post.
But Newcastle were good value for a point which sends them into Saturday's derby trip to Sunderland with confidence on the rise and the appreciation of the bulk of a crowd of 45,908, who applauded them warmly from the pitch at the end of an intriguing 90 minutes.
Kinnear knew he had taken on a major challenge when he accepted the job no-one else wanted, and having spent his life in the game, was surely aware of the old adage about luck deserting teams when they are down.
However, he could not have known just how hard that would hit home.
The 61-year-old inherited a depressing injury list and was devastated to see leading scorer Michael Owen join it with a groin problem last week.
But fate was to serve up an even more cruel twist within 12 minutes of him taking his seat in the dug-out for the first time.
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.
Highlight:
Watch Newcastle v Man City in News Online | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment