That's more like it! - Newcastle earn point against Man City as Eddie Howe gets it spot on

Newcastle United came away from St James' Park with another point on the board after a 1-1 draw with title hopefuls Manchester City.

Eddie Howe had to field a side without a striker as Alexander Isak's broken toe kept him out of contention while Callum Wilson continues to recover from a back injury.

Anthony Gordon played through the middle but it was the right-sided forward Jacob Murphy who was the danger man for much of the game for Newcastle.

Murphy had one of those games that would have seen Isak on the scoresheet for sure, but without a striker to aim for, Murphy's excellent work on the flanks ultimately came to naught.

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Newcastle almost equalised through Joelinton on the stroke of half time

For the first half an hour of the game, Newcastle were by far the better side, and in fact, Manchester City's 35th minute goal by Josko Gvardiol came completely against the run of play.

It was a beautiful finish by the full-back but from Newcastle's point of view it was all a bit too easy.

The Magpies came close to going in level at half time after Joelinton fired a rocket of a shot on the turn directly at Ederson who palmed the ball away just before the whistle.

Anthony Gordon repaid the fans' support with a goal after a Wor Flags display dedicated to him

It took Newcastle just 13 minutes into the second half to tie things up after Anthony Gordon raced forward, tapped the ball beyond Ederson only for the 'keeper to clean him out earning Newcastle a penalty and himself a yellow card.

Gordon stepped up and sent Ederson the wrong way, sending the home fans into raptures. The game remained locked at 1-1 but if anyone was going to take the win it looked like it would be City, and had that been the case, we'd still have been happy with the game.

All we wanted was a performance, and I'm not even sure we would have expected one quite this good. Almost everyone was at the top of their game for Newcastle and Eddie got his team selection, tactics and substitutions almost completely spot on. Our only gripe would be Sean Longstaff's contribution from off the bench, but that really is nitpicking.

If we can play like this against the 18 other teams in the Premier League we'll be right in amongst those Champions League places come May. What a performance.