Toon still finding wins hard to come by
Newcastle failed to climb above Watford near the foot of the Premier League on Saturday after the visitors found a late equaliser to take a point away from St James’ Park.
Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood both started their first league game for the Toon and, backed by a vociferous home crowd, Eddie Howe’s side certainly had the better of the first 45 minutes. The best chances of the opening half both fell to Joelinton from set pieces but the Brazilian was first denied by the underside of the crossbar then shot wide when he should really have hit the target.
The home side may have been frustrated not to have been in front at half-time but they wasted little time in opening the scoring after the break. On 49 minutes Saint-Maximin powered forward and fired a low drive past Foster in the Watford goal to the delight of the Toon Army.
If anything the goal seemed to spark the visitors and for the first time in the afternoon Newcastle then found themselves on the back foot. Josh King was denied by Dubravka before former Magpies midfielder Sissoko curled a shit just wide of the goal.
Just as it seemed like Watford might fall short they found a leveller with two minutes to go, Joao Pedro heading in a cross from Femenia.
Newcastle can’t really have any complaints, they didn’t do enough to turn their first half superiority into chances and after they scored from their only shot on target early in the second half they were pushed onto the back foot.
The result means that the Magpies still have just one win from 20 league games this season and they have been overtaken by Norwich after they beat Everton. Burnley are one point behind Newcastle but have played 3 games less, Watford remain 4th-bottom, 2 points ahead of Eddie Howe’s side but the Hornets also have a game in hand.