Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate is determined to hang on to winger Stewart Downing after seeing him swallow his international disappointment and very nearly clinch the derby-day headlines.

The 23-year-old, who was left out of England boss Fabio Capello's final 22 for Wednesday's friendly against Switzerland last night, responded by turning in an enterprising second half display at Newcastle on Sunday.

Indeed, had his injury-time free-kick not come back off the post, where it was converted from an offside position by Jeremie Aliadiere, he would have completed a fightback victory to pile more misery on Magpies boss Kevin Keegan.

Downing has found himself at the centre of a row between Boro chairman Steve Gibson and his agent Ian Elliott in the last week or so with contract talks having stalled.

However, Southgate is desperate to persuade the home-grown talent his long-term future remains on Teesside.

He said: "I don't know how many times I have said it but I don't think he realises how good he can be.

"He had to recover from the disappointment the night before a game of being left out of the squad.

"To cope with that and go out to play today - and he nearly scored the winner for us when he hit the post.

"He is a fantastic player. I think the world of him. He is great to work with, he is exactly the sort of character we want at the club and that we want to build the club up around.

"I still firmly believe he loved playing his football for us."

If the woodwork saved Newcastle at the death, they were left to reflect on a day of missed opportunities as their wait for a Barclays Premier League win stretched to eight matches.

They took the lead on the hour through Michael Owen's glancing header, his first league goal since October 7 and his side's first in 455 minutes.

However, that might have proved the clincher had referee Mike Dean not mysteriously ruled out Owen's fourth-minute effort for a foul on Mark Schwarzer which nobody else spotted.

Owen later missed a glorious opportunity to double his tally, but with Shay Given having pulled off good saves to deny Downing, Gary O'Neil and David Wheater, Robert Huth looped an 87th-minute header over him to snatch a point with the Magpies waiting in vain for an offside flag.

Keegan said: "I thought we did enough to win here. I couldn't see anything wrong at all with the first goal that Michael got. Schwarzer just dropped it.

"But then we did get a good goal from a great delivery and Michael did what he does best.

"You would prefer us to be able to close the game down but we were not able to."

More news from SportingLife.com