Newcastle 1-1 Stoke: Super-sub Crouch rescues point for Potters
Peter Crouch came off the bench to net a 90th minute header to ensure Stoke City came away from St James’ Park with a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle
John Carver looked on the verge of following up his first win in caretaker charge of the Magpies, beating Hull 3-0 last weekend, with another when Jack Colback opened the scoring late in the second-half.
The former Sunderland man fired in from the edge of the area to inject some fire into an otherwise bland match with just 15 minutes remaining.
Stephen Ireland looked to have curled in a brilliant Stoke equaliser moments later, beating Asmir Begovic from range with a sweet hit, but the Potters star’s effort was ruled out for offside.
But it mattered little in the end, as 82nd minute substitute Crouch looped a superb header over Tim Krul and into the net in stoppage-time to ensure Stoke claimed a deserved point.
It was a clash which had all the markings of two teams with nothing to play for, with both teams slap bang in the middle of the standings - more than ten points clear of the relegation battle and ten points adrift of challenging for a European place.
Both sides came close to a goal in the first-half, with Magpies playmaker Remy Cabella first forcing a superb reaction save from Begovic with a neat glancing header.
Tim Krul also had to be alert to deny Mame Biram Diouf on the stroke of half-time, the Senegalese striker seeing a snap shot well saved after a mazy run and neat footwork from team-mate Steven N’Zonzi.
In truth, both sides struggled to find any rhythm as they were frustrated by whistle-happy referee Kevin Friend, who blew for fouls even when players won the ball with perfectly clean tackles.
The game petered on into the second-half and continued in the same fashion until Colback finally broke the deadlock on 74 minutes, though the midfielder was fortunate to see his sliced shot go in off the inside of the post.
Suddenly, the game came to life with 15 minutes to play and Stoke was unfortunate not to level minutes later, as Ireland found the net with a fine 25-yard strike but strayed just offside.
Ayoze Perez had the chance to finish it for Newcastle with an electric run down the left and neat trickery to cut inside and create a decent opening for himself, though the forward lost his head at the vital moment and lashed his shot horribly over the bar.
Potters boss Mark Hughes' final roll of the dice saw the introduction of Crouch in the closing stages, and Stoke began to rekindle their style of old as they looked for the gangly frontman with a series of long balls forward.
It was a tactic that paid off though, with Newcastle helpless as Crouch rose highest at the back post to send Potters fans home happy.