The spoils were shared at St James Park as Newcastle twice pegged Tottenham back to grab a late point.

Shola Ameobi was the hero with an excellent turn and shot that thwarted Tottenham’s hopes of taking the three points in a game that the visitors will feel slightly aggrieved they didn’t win.

Harry Redknapp’s men arrived on Tyneside in a rich vein of form and were determined to end Newcastle’s unbeaten record this season. Alan Pardew has turned the Magpies into a different proposition and on this form they will certainly be challenging for a top six finish come the end of season.

Alan Pardew will have been relieved that his Newcastle team came into the break with 11 men after Steven Taylor was fortunate to stay on the pitch after bringing Adebayor down in the penalty area when through on goal. Some referees would have shown a straight red but Lee Probert gave Taylor the benefit of the doubt, despite awarding the penalty. Rafael van der Vaart duly converted the penalty to give the visitors the half time lead.

Harry Redknapp would have drummed into his side to hold tight in the second half but the Magpies found themselves level in the opening minutes when Demba Ba struck his 5^th goal in three games, following good work from Gutierrez.

The game ebbed and flowed, but then a fantastic strike from Jermain Defoe, who was unfortunate to have been left out of the starting line-up, put the visitors back ahead in the game. It was a gentle reminder to Fabio Capello as to his striking ability having been crazily overlooked in the past two squads.

It seemed like that was going to be the end of the scoring until Shola Ameobi pulled out a fantastic strike of his own that gave Brad Friedel absolutely no chance and maintain Newcastle’s impressive start to the season. The Magpies huffed and puffed to try and force a winner late on but Tottenham were able to hold on.

Both managers would have taken a point before the game and both seemed delighted and relieved at the final whistle.