Peter Crouch scored a dramatic late equaliser as
Stoke City fought back to claim a 1-1 Premier
League draw at Newcastle United on Sunday.
Despite dominating possession, Stoke looked set
for defeat at St James' Park when Jack Colback
gave Newcastle the lead in the 74th minute.
The midfielder found the net with a low shot
beyond Asmir Begovic to put Newcastle on course
to leapfrog Stoke and move into the top half of the
table.
Stoke may have been aggrieved to see Colback still
on the field after he was not shown a second
caution for a challenge on Victor Moses three
minutes earlier.
But the introduction of Crouch proved telling as the
substitute struck with a far-post header to earn
Stoke the point their performance merited.
Stoke stay 10th in the table, two points ahead of
11th-placed Newcastle.
An unchanged Newcastle side were denied an
opening goal by goalkeeping heroics from Begovic
in the 10th minute.
The Bosnian reacted brilliantly to tip Remy
Cabella's near-post header over the crossbar after
the France international had ghosted into the box
to meet a left-wing cross from compatriot Moussa
Sissoko.
John Carver's side had some joy down the right of
the Stoke defence without creating too much in the
way of goalscoring opportunities, although Sammy
Ameobi drew another save from Begovic with a
curling effort from the edge of the area.
The hosts continued to show the greater quality in
front of goal in a largely dour first half but were
not clinical when they did create
chances, Ayoze Perez firing narrowly wide of the
left-hand post following a throughball from
Cabella.
And Newcastle were almost punished for their lack
of a cutting edge in first-half injury time as the
agile Tim Krul was forced to spring to his left to
turn Mame Biram Diouf's diving header wide.
Stoke's backline – already without the presence of
captain Ryan Shawcross – was dealt a blow when
Marc Wilson limped off to be replaced by Geoff
Cameron.
Newcastle threw on Papiss Cisse – back from the
Africa Cup of Nations – in search of the opener,
which finally arrived when Colback netted his
third of the season.
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