Newcastle United 2, West Bromwich Albion 2

Jan 19 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

PETER Lovenkrands came to Newcastle United's rescue against West Bromwich Albion as the Magpies were given the toughest examination of their promotion credentials last night.

Having fallen behind twice in the game and been stretched at the back every time the visitors pushed forward in numbers, Newcastle somehow found the resilience and strength to pull themselves level.

Much has been made of the excellent team spirit this season and they needed every ounce of it as West Brom, stung by a 3-1 home defeat by Nottingham Forest, out-passed and out-manoeuvred them for long spells, particularly on the counter.

Newcastle’s march back towards the Premier League slowed down over the Festive period and Forest reduced their lead at the top of the table to just two points over the weekend.

This point has increased it to three, but the gap has been closed and the need for strengthening this month re-affirmed.

It is a reminder that nothing will ever be a formality in football, and while the Magpies had two games in hand on the second-placed side before last night, with the points already in the bag, the pressure was back on them to re-establish their superiority over the division.

In the end, they did not lose face, but it would be foolish to say they dominated.

Forest’s excellent run of form has been even more concerning for West Brom, who have slipped out of the automatic promotion places, and while most teams have come to St James’ Park this season with damage limitation in mind, the Baggies tried to take the game to the Magpies.

Yet it was United who carved out the first real opening of the game, Kevin Nolan linking up well with Shola Ameobi and when his low cross zipped across the six-yard box, Lovenkrands was a whisker away from converting sliding it in.

Lovenkrands’ strength of character is commendable, but sometimes the best way to handle grief – the Danish striker’s father died last Friday – is to carry on as normal, refusing to wallow in heartache and pain, which inevitably comes with the death of a close family member.

You suspect, Lovenkrands’ father would have wanted him to play and it is comforting to know his last football memory of his son would have been the hat-trick he scored against Plymouth Argyle last week, but how badly his son would have wanted to be able to dedicate a goal to him last night.

Mercifully, that chance would come again. West Brom, though, answered almost immediately when Robert Koren was given far too much room down the right-hand side to find Graham Dorrans in the area, but thankfully his shot flew over the Newcastle bar. The warning was not headed and with West Brom’s midfield showing far more pace than United’s own lumbering unit, the visitors were dangerous every time they broke forward on the counter.

For the first time this season Newcastle were in danger of being overran in defence, although the visitors’ first goal came from a set-piece. Ameobi had been given the task of marking the beanpole Jonas Olsson, but when a free-kick was cleared, he let his man go and the centre-back had plenty of time to turn the ball home when Dorrans whipped the ball back into the danger area.

That sparked Newcastle into action and, after a sustained period of pressure, Chris Hughton’s men found an equaliser.

Ameobi appeared capable of unnerving the West Brom defence whenever he got the ball at his feet and when Youssouf Mulumbi dived in rashly, Danny Guthrie was given the chance to curl a brilliant free-kick past a lead-footed Scott Carson.

It was turning into a remarkable contest and Ameobi twice came close to giving the Magpies the lead, Olsson doing well to block his shot on the turn before the big centre forward put a downward header straight into the arms of Carson.

West Brom, though, were thrilling going forward and Newcastle were constantly being caught out with a lack of numbers at the back to deal with their midfield runners as Kevin Nolan and Alan Smith struggled to get back to help.

Jerome Thomas almost put the visitors in the lead again with a deflected shot after Jose Enrique had made a mistake on the halfway line, and Harper was also needed to turn his long-range shot over the bar just before the break.

Unfortunately, Newcastle’s defenders appeared to still have their minds on the half-time refreshments when the action resumed, as Dorrans strolled unchallenged into the area and Roman Bednar was able to nod home after his initial header had been turned on to the bar by Harper.

But yet again Newcastle mustered the energy to haul themselves back into the game, Jose Enrique linking up with Jonas Gutierrez on the left-hand side to pick out Lovenrkands. For a second, time seemed to stand still, but eventually his header, which caught Carson by surprise with its accuracy, crept inside the near post.

Lovenkrands instantly raised his eyes to the heavens before the emotion poured out of him and the striker was still wiping away the tears when the game restarted.

Football, contrary to what Bill Shankly might have said, is not more important than life or death, but on this occasion it provided a fitting way to say goodbye to someone who had experienced both.

Nolan should have given Newcastle the lead for the first time when Enrique found the perfect cross to find his late run from midfield, and the visitors were also starting to lose their discipline with Gonzalo Jara fortunate to stay on the field following an ugly two-footed tackle on Gutierrez.

But it was Ishmael Miller who should have wrapped the game up for West Brom, only for his shot from Thomas’ cross to hit the post from five yards out, with Alan Smith making a brave block to prevent Koren hitting in the rebound.

Newcastle looked weary at the final whistle – but they are still standing at the top of the Championship.