Newcastle United 1 - 1 Everton

Half-time: 0 - 0

But immediately after half-time – when Tommy Johnson came on for Michael Ball – Gary Speed was brought down in the area by Paul Gerrard, and Alan Shearer duly converted the penalty.

However, Everton were playing a lot better in the second half, and were rewarded with an equalizer when Kevin Campbell scored a diving header off a great cross from Nick Barmby.

After a few beatific days of family, kids, good food, good wine... footy was further from my mind than Betelgeuse. But when Sunday rolled around...well, I felt as though I was about to get on board a tumbril, given recent setbacks.

Not that the day started that way... Something about an early Sunday morning journey through the streets of me beloved city... depends on how you see things: Either it's serenity where normally there's a sort of controlled urban hysteria, or it's the populace partly sedated by hangover. I was in a good mood and the weather was mild. Forget the tumbril thingy, just GET me there.

No problems with the bus this time. Straight there and good weather all the way. Until we got near to Newcastle. Clouds started to roll up, and get lower, and then started to spit rain. Erk.

Tommy the driver took us to a small back-street local called The Globe, a knock-out little pub, classic Geordie footy. All photos, flags and mementoes, locals jabbering away in the corner, friendly service with a smile and good ale. Not a single trace of mad chauvinism.

The only thing was... nobody could understand a single WORD of Geordie dialect. And it is a dialect, not just accent and slang like most Scouse. I mean, what the hell d'you make of something which sounded like, "Haway wor bonny hinny stap dunchin wit ya heed in ya broon dog." At least I THINK that's what was said.

Might as well have been talking Urdu!

Since we were there early, some of the bus crowd started to play pool. Got dirty too. That Terry... what a hustler. Murdered everyone in sight before we left. Then grinned.

Then we had one of those moments. A middle-aged Geordie came in with his little lad – sorry, bairn – and came straight over to join us for a chat. Great. His little fair-haired lad was at the age of absolutely no inhibitions about talking to anyone about footy, all shining eyes, total innocence and a brand new autograph book... he couldn't wait to get the match, twisting his scarf in his hands impatiently while his dad swapped war stories with us. And what his dad had to say about Newcastle's season ticket fiasco almost burned the polish off the tables. You couldn't help comparing the nipper's open-eyed wonder with the crap being visited on the game by the Toon Suits. I know which I prefer...

The ground was only ten minutes walk uphill. It's the highest point so it dominates the area. The domination's emphasised by the ground rebuilding now under way.

Additional top tiers are being constructed on one side, on what i think used to be the Gallowgate End. And of course the roof hasn't been added yet.

It's impossible to make any constructive criticism of the scheme without seeing the drawings and the design intent. Suffice it to say the site is one big MESS.

[Note to the Goodison-for-Ever-ton campaign: That's what would happen for a period of FOUR years if the phasing plan in the feasibility study were to be followed. Not a pleasant prospect....]

The stadium tiers are pitched quite steeply and are somewhat similar in angle to the Calderon in Madrid. The new tiers are about the same angle as the Top Balcony in Everton's Main Stand on Goodison Road. Outside, the general appearance will likely be much better than any of the other new grounds I have seen, although it is likely prolonged weather exposure will leave a lot of pattern-staining a la Beauborg/Georges Pompidou in Paris... which really needs recoating every few years. Inside, the spectator banking will probably be quite spectacular. The Geordie fans' support will do the rest in creating an atmosphere. I wish them well. Lord knows they've waited long enough...

The Match

After all the talk of Tommy Johnson's debut... he wasn't in the starting line up. In the back four, Unsie went in the centre with Davey Weir, Cleland (erk) was back on the right and Bally stayed left. I wish I knew what the hell the rest of them, KC excluded, were supposed to be doing... because they did next to bugger all in the first half... couldn't string two passes together.

We started brightly enough and got two corners almost immediately. Then that was that. We just couldn't get going, not even a little bit. For long periods, the game was played across the park just inside our half. It wasn't even as though Toon had anything much to offer. You could see in a minute where their problem is: A near total lack of confidence. Sure they had a few chances, but they were never convincing. You just kept praying for the Blue Bellies to show just a little of the concentration and teamwork of previous weeks. Most of our lot were convinced that was all that was needed to win the game.

We had two bright spots. Richard Dunne had another terrific game without being spectacular. He hangs off his man now and times his tackles almost perfectly. Sometimes he gives away metres of space and you wait for him to get skinned by someone – anyone – closing from the wing at pace. But he never was. Nice one, Richard. Again.

The other spot was the central defensive combo between Unsie and Weir. Before the match, most Blue Bellies – me included – thought Shearer and the Big Yin (Duncan) would give us a very bad time. But Unsworth-Weir had the better of the tussles overall. And what a relief THAT was! In the end, The Big Yin went off, and not just because he isn't completely match fit.

I know it's early days but I can't see any real chemistry in the Shearer-Yin thingy. They're a threat alright, couldn't be otherwise with two players of their calibre. I reckon the problem, which may be insurmountable long term, is their playing egos are too large for the kind of combo play the Cheesehead (Ruud Gullit) might have envisaged when he bought the Yin. If it does come off, it will be lethal. Right now, though, no sweat, they aren't a patch on Jeffers-Campbell at their best.

And the rain came down. And it got worse by the minute. From being merely cloying it began to sheet down. It was alright for me under me waterproof jacket and hood but there were poor Blue Bellies out there in their shirt sleeves for god's sake... Half time arrived not a minute to soon.

The first half had been more noteworthy for the fans' banter than any good footy. When the Toon Army started up with, "Stand up if you love the truth!" (sadly, a failed demo against the season tickets scam by the Suits) the Bellies fans replaced the last four words with, "...if you're going down." The look on the nearest Geordie fans' faces was priceless. Especially as they found themselves standing up as the replacement words wafted around the ground.

Second Half

So the second half started and the Toon went straight down the other end and got a penalty. Which Shearer of course put away just as we were weighing up the replacement of Bally with Tommy Johnson. It didn't surprise me at all that Bally went off...  he went walkabout too many times again and doubtless Wally got pissed off with him.

Turned out both the goal and the substitution were the best thing to happen to us. Because, all of a sudden, we started playing footy again. The game turned completely. We could and should have had two penalties during this phase. Instead, we had to make do with an absolute BEAUT from KC. Barmby and Johnson were causing problems for Toon down their left flank and eventually it paid off when Nicky swung over a perfect centre and KC split their two central defenders, diving in to headed it down and just inside the right hand post. Magnificent goal.

Well, that really messed with the Toonies and their fragile confidence almost evaporated. We couldn't rest up though and they had a couple of potent counter-attacks which nearly caught our defence napping. They hit a post with one of these when Paul got down to a skidding ground shot cleaving the grass from the left and touched it onto the woodwork. Relief all round.

Midway through the second half I was amazed to see a Newcastle bizzie reprimand our driver Tommy for using bad language. As the bizzie went past I said to him, "I don't BELIEVE you've just done that....what about THEM" and gestured at the nearest 10,000 Geordies howling away. He grinned and said, "Aye...but they're on my side!" Cheeky bastard. Has to be said, though, the Newcastle bizzies were a zillion times better than the Smellies bizzies last week.

Later on, Tommy wouldn't let it rest. Every time the Toon Army let vent with traditional organised profanity he turned to the bizzies and shouted, "Look! LOOK! Have a word with THEM will yer!" And then he wondered why they just stood there grinning. He was flamin' MAD.

So we got our point and broke the spell. Caution is required though, people. The Geordies are no great shakes. They won't go down of course and they might well do something in the FA Cup. But Robson has one helluva job on his hands.

It was nice to see Wally babe outwit him in the substitutes game. Nice one, Wally.

Next week, though, we'll see whether we can keep it up. Keep the Panadol handy. We might need it.

The past couple of times the visit to St James' Park has been (for the visiting fan) poorly policed with Everton fans victimised for no reason than doing what football fans do all over the 92 grounds. However, this visit I saw only one fan shown the door, and after the first 45 mins he may have been thankful to keep himself dry.

When you play with one man up front, you let Newcastle push up on you. Our midfield was over run, the ball kept coming back at us. Gerrard was outstanding (in the back of his mind, he knows that Tommy's back to full fitness and was playing to keep his place as No 1).

With the half-time break upon us came the a chance to get out of the rain, where the talk was that Walter must bring on a second striker, and how are you getting to Kilmarnock on Thursday.

The second half started with a change, the one that had to be made. It was only later that we found out that it was enforced, Ball received a knock (which may rule him out of the England U-21 game) and was replaced with Johnson. But, after just 45 seconds, they had a penalty: 1-0, and it looked an uphill battle...

However, for the next 40 minutes the boys in the Royal Blue shirts where the best side – in fact we should have won the game from a penalty – "not given" – and a few chances that in better conditions would have been put away.

We do play better with a 4-4-2 formation. Please, Mr Smith, take note....

Despite being ably assisted by Mike Reed, Newcastle didn't really seem to offer that much of a threat, but we sat back and allowed them to come to us for most of the first half. Any possession that we won seemed to be given straight back to the Magpies who fashioned a few shots at goal and we would probably have been a few goals down to a more capable side.

Passes went astray and we had the look of a team that barely knew each other. Much kicking and none of the neater play I last saw. The desire to win was more evident in the men in black and white than anyone wearing the Royal Blue jerseys.

Their penalty at the start of the second half stirred our team briefly to life and we had a relatively good spell which eventually saw Campbell equalise. But, rather than continue the pressure, we again sat back and allowed Newcastle much of the closing period in an attempt to snatch defeat from the draw that seemed likely.

This was probably a game that we could have won with some more effort, and I'm at a loss to know why we didn't try to take the ball to them in the first half. Five yellow cards today and again, if all we are doing is allowing the opposition the opportunity to run at us, it seems inevitable that we will eventually make mistakes and be punished by the most even-handed of refs, let alone the rash of cards shown by Mike Reed.

Gerrard was probably Man of the Match again because he at least seemed to be certain of what he was trying to do.

Pembridge was rather off the pace and did a woeful back-heel at one point that led to a swift counter which they should have finished off.

The penalty kick the England captain converted 90 seconds into the second-half at St James' Park yesterday took his tally for the season to 12 in the Premiership, one more than his Old Trafford critic, and 14 in all club competitions – again, one more than Cole.

It proved sufficient to lift Newcastle United out of the bottom three, though not with the victory it promised at the time Shearer steered his right foot shot past the diving Paul Gerrard. Having gained tangible reward for their clear superiority, Bobby Robson's boys proceeded to lose the plot – and, with it, two points.

With the Magpies all in a flap at the back, Kevin Campbell stole in between Nicos Dabizas and Alessandro Pistone to earn Everton a draw, meeting Nicky Barmby's cross from the right with a goalscoring diving header.

It was a fair result, the Toffeemen having extricated themselves from the sticky situation of a half-hearted first-half performance to dictate the bulk of the second period.

Not that Robson was a happy manager. "We should have won," he said. "We had a marvellous first-half – I would say the best we've played since I came here. But for a 20-minute period after we scored we were really flagging.

"I can understand why because this game should have been on Monday. We played on Thursday night. That extra 24 hours would have been vital for us. It's so little time to recover, the extra day is very important. It affected us and we have suffered from that one day."

There were no signs of heavy-leggedness in the first-half, which belonged to Newcastle – and, to a great extent, to the player in their ranks who sports an Everton tattoo on his left arm.

Duncan Ferguson may have been hamstrung for much of his 49 weeks at Newcastle but the old Evertonian looked every penny an £8M man as he assumed the bulk of the line-leading duties and dropped deep to keep moves in motion with his precise distribution.

It was Shearer, though, who enjoyed the best chance before the break. Put clear of the Everton defence by Nolberto Solano's superbly-measured through-ball, he dispatched a stinging right-foot shot that would have beaten a lesser goalkeeper than Gerrard, who blocked it with a first-class reflex save.

It was a different story in the second minute of the second-half, when the Everton keeper gave Shearer his penalty chance by hauling down the hugely influential Gary Speed. The tide, however, quickly turned in Everton's favour.

David Weir fired a snap-shot off Steve Harper's right-hand post and three minutes after the equaliser the Everton bench were up in arms when Campbell flicked the ball against Didier Domi's left arm. Mike Reed judged the handling offence to have been unintentional but Walter Smith did not see it that way. "It should have been a penalty," the Everton manager said.

Luck, however, finished on Smith's side, Kevin Gallacher's 84th minute drive cannoning off Gerrard's right-hand post.

They are pedalling furiously up a steep hill. On Thursday night Newcastle had trooped from St James' Park, after their exploits in Europe, and Robson was unimpressed with the decision to bring forward this match 24 hours from today to accommodate the fixture at Hampden Park.

After a rigorous, if patchy, first half, they tired visibly, enabling Everton to get back into a game they barely graced with their presence. "It simply wasn't long enough to recover," Robson said.

He is a patriot, however, and Shearer's penalty – his fourteenth goal at club level this season – could be viewed as a positive omen for the week ahead, a suggestion enhanced when Kevin Campbell conjured Everton's equaliser. And if further evidence were required, David Weir and Kevin Gallacher, Scottish to their boots, both hit the post. Shearer certainly took it that way. "I always maintained that if England made it to these play-offs, then I would fancy our chances over two legs against anybody," he said.

For Craig Brown, it is more a case of what might have been. If Duncan Ferguson had not renounced his international career two years ago, Brown might never have had cause to rue the name of David Johnson, of Ipswich Town. It has been a long and lonely 12 months since Ferguson's £8 million transfer from Goodison Park, but in his past two matches Ferguson has been a towering, formidable presence.

The weight of Newcastle's pressure grew and dissipated in tune with the rain that fell intermittently on Tyneside, but Ferguson provided a bright and constant target until he tired deep into the match. On three occasions, he proved a nuisance to his former team-mates, testing Paul Gerrard with a ballooning header, a shot dragged wide of the right post and an incisive chip that dropped a moment too late.

For the most part, Shearer was content to provide the accompaniment rather than conduct the orchestra, a formula that will serve Kevin Keegan well if his captain again manages to score. He did, nevertheless, forge the best chance of the early exchanges, timing his run ahead of Dunne and Unsworth to meet Solano's pass, only for his brisk shot to thump Gerrard in the face.

When the confrontation was repeated in the 46th minute, after Gerrard was disciplined harshly for tripping Gary Speed, the young goalkeeper anticipated the direction of Shearer's penalty correctly but was unable to divert its course. Precedent suggested it would ease Newcastle's path to a predictable win, but Everton became enlivened.

Ten minutes later, Campbell was permitted to rise between Dabizas and Pistone, meeting Barmby's deep cross with a thunderous header. "It was the only time they damaged us," Robson said. "If they had got the three points, it would have been a steal; Everton hardly got a kick." Shearer, at least, will leave in good heart.

Shearer was up against three players who are likely to be trying to stifle him during England's Euro 2000 showdowns against Scotland and his performance will be comforting to Kevin Keegan as he begins preparations for the two most important dates in his short tenure as England manager.

Keegan should be grateful to one of his predecessors, Bobby Robson, for sending Shearer into the play-offs in such confident mood. Robson has not only invigorated Shearer but has injected new belief into Newcastle to the point where he could be rightly disappointed at their failure to take maximum points from a much-improved Everton team, albeit a team who have not won in five outings since their intoxicating Merseyside derby triumph at Anfield.

Robson blamed his former Football Association employers for costing his team the extra two points. Re-opening a wound that was festering since the decision to bring forward this game by 29 hours, he stormed: "The extra day would have made a considerable difference.

"We were clearly jaded in the second half after producing some marvellous football before the interval, probably the best we've played since I came here. But we had nowhere near enough time to recover from our hard European match on Thursday night."

Walter Smith, the Everton manager, agreed with Robson's assertion that Newcastle were comfortably superior in the first 45 minutes when the Merseysiders were denied even a fleeting sight of Steve Harper's goal, but maintained that the Shearer penalty, awarded when goalkeeper Paul Gerrard up-ended Gary Speed, had a galvanising effect on his own players.

The way Everton responded to that setback will stand them in good stead for what might still turn into a worrying winter. Kevin Campbell, whose arrival last spring from a miserable spell in Turkey has been the most telling factor in their resurgence, was again their saviour.

The £3 million striker pounced for his fourth goal in three games, his seventh this season, after 62 minutes, capitalising on an excellent cross from the right by Nick Barmby to beat the previously unemployed Harper with a precise glancing header.

It could have been worse for Newcastle as Everton, boosted by the second-half introduction of Celtic's on-loan striker Tommy Johnson, sensed an unlikely victory.

David Weir, their central defender, who will be alongside his clubmates John Collins and Don Hutchison against England, struck the foot of an upright with a low deflected shot which had the goalkeeper struggling, and Johnson was denied the opportunity to shoot by a cynical foul on the edge of the penalty area by Franck Dumas.

A first home defeat for Newcastle since the managerial change would have been harsh, considering the way Newcastle began the match, Duncan Ferguson, the former Everton striker being particularly prominent.

Looking as if he has made a full recovery from the latest in a string of injury problems, Ferguson could have scored three times in the first 10 minutes, heading straight at Gerrard, shooting narrowly wide and then having an effort blocked by the combined efforts of Gerrard and Richard Dunne.

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