Newcastle salvage point against Hammers

Newcastle 2 West Ham 2

Newcastle rescued themselves from the brink of disaster to snatch a Barclays Premiership draw against battling West Ham.

Trailing to goals from Carlton Cole and Marlon Harewood inside 22 disastrous first-half minutes, the Hammers looked certain to pile the agony on Glenn Roeder’s side after their 5-1 FA Cup humiliation by Birmingam in midweek.

But James Milner’s 45th-minute strike – his third in as many games at St James’ Park – dragged the Magpies back into it and Nolberto Solano’s 53rd-minute penalty set the scene for a much improved second-half display which might have brought victory but for the woodwork and the heroics of keeper Roy Carroll.

Three points were the only requirement for the home side before kick-off, but with Peter Ramage and Shay Given having been added to an already depressing injury list, a spirited fightback left their supporters among a crowd of 52,095 smiling all the same.

Chairman Freddy Shepherd used his programme notes to urge the fans to stay with Roeder’s injury-plagued side in the wake of their midweek nightmare.

He wrote: “The real Newcastle United is not the one you saw on Wednesday, but the one that fought so well to win at Tottenham three days before, the one that fought to take a point off Manchester United in our last home Premiership game, the one that lost only twice in a dozen games from November too December and the one that is still in the UEFA Cup and which has climbed to 11th position in the Premiership.”

However, by the time the half-time whistle sounded, it was the unreal Newcastle United which had treated the home supporters to another frustratingly inept 45 minutes of football.

Where Roeder had called on his players to be men, he got schoolboy defending to allow the Hammers, fighting desperately against relegation from the top flight, to race into a 2-0 lead.

First Cole was allowed to appear unmarked to fire home the opener on 18 minutes after the similarly unoccupied Calum Davenport, making his debut for the club, had headed back Luis Boa Morte’s corner.

But the Magpies did not learn their lesson and fell further behind four minutes later when Ramage allowed himself to be turned by Harewood with the minimum of fuss to collect George McCartney’s pass and stab a shot past the helpless Given.

Roeder’s woes increased on the half-hour when Ramage limped off with a hamstring injury and David Edgar joined fellow 19-year-old Paul Huntington at the heart of a defence which looked ready to implode at any moment.

With £10million striker Obafemi Martins once again misfiring – he blasted wide from seven yards after doing well to create space for himself on 33 minutes - and Kieron Dyer struggling to get himself into the game, Newcastle’s chances of dragging themselves back into a contest they dared not lose looked remote.

But, after Nicky Butt had seen a goal-bound header turned away by Carroll, they did just that in injury-time when Milner’s shot sped past the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Carroll and defender Anton Ferdinand were both booked for their protests against Scott Parker, who was adjudged not to be interfering from an offside position, and their case looked to have some merit.

Newcastle took up where they had left off after the restart, belatedly pinning the Hammers back inside their own half for long periods.

And they were back on level terms within eight minutes when Boa Morte needlessly blocked Milner’s free-kick with his arm and Solano, taking over from Martins on spot-kick duty, sent Carroll the wrong way.

The Nigerian very nearly made it 3-2 on 57 minutes when he span superbly on to Dyer’s cross and blasted a shot towards goal, where Carroll saved with his chest.

Martins should have laid on a third goal for Dyer four minutes later after skipping past Davenport, but drilled his cross in behind the England international.

Davenport saw a 65th-minute header ruled out for pushing, but the Magpies’ relief was tempered by Given’s departure through injury with Steve Harper taking his place.

Martins saw a 72nd-minute header come back off the post with Carroll completely wrong-footed, but having survived that scare, the visitors staged a fightback of their own.

Substitute Matthew Etherington passed up a glorious opportunity to win it on 76 minutes after Harewood’s powerful run and Nigel Quashie’s pass opened up Newcastle, but Harper bought his side time and ultimately snuffed out the danger.

Both keepers were in action again in the dying seconds, Carroll turning away another Martins piledriver and Harper denying Harewood at point-blank range.