Rate it!

25 votes

Andy Carroll headed a late leveller to salvage a 2-2 draw for Newcastle against West Ham at St James' Park.

West Ham led with 13 minutes left through goals from Craig Bellamy and Carlton Cole, after Michael Owen had given Newcastle the lead, but they failed to hang on for all three points..

The equaliser was no more than Newcastle deserved. Joe Kinnear's side started the match brightly, almost taking the lead with 10 minutes gone.

Owen latched on to a left-wing cross from Jonas Gutierrez, before working space and sliding a left-footed shot past West Ham keeper Rob Green. The ball seemed destined to bobble over the line, but it struck the far upright and bounced away.

West Ham failed to heed the lesson and fell behind eight minutes later when Owen was again allowed to find room to shoot.

This time Jose Enrique fed the erstwhile England striker on the edge of the box on the left. Owen cut past James Collins before slamming a right-foot shot past Green at his near post.

From there it looked as if Newcastle would go on to score a second, and Carroll almost did just that when his header flashed into the side-netting on 24 minutes.

West Ham equalised completely against the run of play just before the half-hour mark. Former Magpies Bellamy and Scott Parker played a neat one-two on the edge of the Newcastle box to free the Welsh striker, who duly dinked the ball deftly over the on-rushing keeper Shay Given.

Before Bellamy's strike, the Newcastle defence had been successfully operating an offside trap to deal with the pace of Bellamy in the West Ham attack. But they were caught out on the brink of half-time as Mark Noble found himself clear on goal. The midfielder should have scored, but he was denied by a crucial save by Given.

West Ham dominated the opening exchanges of the second half, and were again cursing Given's reactions when the Irishman made a point-blank save from Jack Collison shortly after the re-start.

But the Hammers didn't have to wait long to be rewarded for their dominance, as Cole plucked a Charles Ilunga pass from the air on the edge of the six-yard box before crashing a left-foot volley into the roof of the Newcastle goal on 55 minutes.

Newcastle re-took the initiative after that as West Ham sat back and looked to pick off their hosts on the break.

The Magpies thought they had equalised midway through the second period when Lucas Neill sliced a Fabricio Coloccini cross powerfully into his own net, only for referee Alan Wiley to disallow the own-goal for a push by Steven Taylor on James Collins as the ball was played into the area.

Newcastle eventually levelled 10 minutes later through Carroll's well-directed header from a Damien Duff cross from the left.

And the home side almost stole all three posts as Gutierrez's shot deflected agonisingly wide in injury time.

Ben Phillips / Eurosport