Missed penalty hands Newcastle a point

Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 1

Gareth Barry handed beleaguered Newcastle boss Graeme Souness a lifeline when he fired an 87th-minute penalty high over the crossbar.

The Magpies had looked on course for all three points as they entered the final quarter of an hour leading 1-0 through Alan Shearer’s first-half penalty, the 198th goal of his career on Tyneside.

However, they crumbled at the death as former Sunderland midfielder Gavin McCann levelled after 75 minutes and then defender Titus Bramble needlessly conceded a spot-kick.

But Barry let both Bramble and Souness off the hook when he shot wildly over and leave the bulk of a crowd of 52,267 not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

The point at least ended Newcastle’s run of three successive defeats and with fresh injuries having further limited the manager’s options, might have won him a stay of execution.

However, it was at the very margins of acceptable and with Arsenal due on Tyneside next weekend the pressure is still on the manager.

The stakes could hardly have been higher for Souness, and opposite number David O’Leary started the game not too far behind him as the two Carling Cup midweek failures attempted to restore a semblance of order.

Teenage midfielder Charles N’Zogbia broke his wrist in a training ground accident and had to undergo surgery yesterday and so the starting line-up included only six of the men he would consider to be among his strongest side, with Michael Owen, Emre, Albert Luque and Celestine Babayaro either injured, suspended or on the bench.

The snarling tackling of Scott Parker and Amady Faye in a three-man midfield set the tone and while Villa perhaps played the more fluent football it was the Magpies who looked marginally the more dangerous.

However, it was a slice of good fortune which finally earned them the breakthrough. Alan Wiley had no doubts when Parker’s shot hit Liam Ridgewell after 32 minutes and immediately awarded a penalty, the fourth the defender had conceded in five matches. Shearer smashed his shot beyond the keeper’s dive to open the scoring.

Lee Hendrie saw a free-kick sail into the side-netting seconds later and Robbie Elliott had to get in an important block to deny the same man six minutes before the break, but Geordie spirits were high as the teams left the pitch.

Ameobi chanced his arm from distance after 48 minutes, although he was well off target, as the Magpies looked to cement their lead, and they went within inches of a second seven minutes later.

Shearer chased down a long ball and managed to get himself goal-side of Ridgewell before firing in a dipping volley which had Sorensen beaten but clipped the crossbar.

Young striker Michael Chopra, making just his second Premiership start, passed up a good opportunity after 59 minutes when Shearer headed down Parker’s deep cross, Olof Mellberg easing him off the ball to head clear.

O’Leary replaced Juan Pablo Angel and Steve Davis with Luke Moore and Eirik Bakke after 61 minutes but it was McCann who almost dragged his side back into it five minutes later when, after Shay Given’s punch from a corner fell to him, he sent in a volley which the keeper tipped away superbly.

Villa were always in the hunt and they drew level after 75 minutes when, after Hendrie had squared from the left, McCann held off Shola Ameobi to drill a low drive past Given from 20 yards.

Faye forced a good save from Sorensen with a well-struck volley seconds later and Souness introduced Luque for Chopra with nine minutes remaining in a quest for victory.

But fortune smiled on the manager once again when, with just three minutes remaining, Bramble needlessly felled Baros in the box.

However, Barry, who scored twice from the spot in the corresponding fixture last season, could not oblige this time around, much to the relief of all in black and white.