Stalemate at St James'! Newcastle 0-0 Manchester United.

Newcastle battled to a brave point against title-chasing Manchester United this evening in a match that had much more entertainment within it than the scoreline suggested.

Alan Pardew made three changes to the side that lost at Aston Villa last weekend as fit again Shola Ameobi, Cheik Tiote and Tim Krul, deputising for the injured Steve Harper, were all called upon, and to their credit they all did a job against a team that has an awesome record against us.

The home side started brightly, but they could have been a goal behind before they got into their stride had Tim Krul not spread himself well to prevent Javier Hernandez tapping in a Wayne Rooney square ball. From then on though, the home side took control of proceedings.

Alan Pardew clearly had his players up for it and they got into Manchester United and forced errors. They had chances through Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi and Joey Barton and registered five attempts at goal and numerous corners in the blink of an eye. St James' Park approved of this and the noise volumes cranked up a few levels in response.

You have to score when you're on top though, and Newcastle nearly paid for their profligacy when Wayne Rooney clipped the ball over Mike Williamson to put himself through on goal. I fully expected the fat chav to get his annual goal against us, but to my surprise he spooned the ball at Tim Krul who deflected the shit high over the Gallowgate net.

After a frantic start the game started to settle down and Manchester United started to get into it a bit more. They had the bulk of the possession, and rather ominously it was all in and around the edge of our penalty area.

Newcastle still had their chances however through a couple of Joey Barton set-pieces and through a mix-up in the away sides defence which took Peter Lovenkrands by surprise, but that was about it it for the first-half and there is a strong case to suggest that Newcastle were the better the side and should have been in front.

Alex Ferguson clearly had the hairdryer out at half-time as his side started the second-half with intent and forced a series of corners. Fortunately nothing came of them but it was Man Utd that were clearly on top and took control of the game.

Newcastle can possibly feel aggrieved that they weren't awarded a penalty when Anderson tripped Peter Lovenkrands in the box. Replays showed that there was contact although I personally feel that a penalty would have been harsh as I think Lovenkrands had lost control of the ball. Still, it was a talking point as referee, Lee Probert waved away the claims.

To be honest, both sides struggled to create much in the second-half. There was no doubt that Manchester United had the better of the chances, but fortunately those chances just didn't sit right for them whether that be due to good fortune or good defending by Newcastle in equal measure.

Stephen Ireland made his long-awaited debut as he replaced Lovenkrands, and he nearly made an instant impact when he latched onto a Shola flick-on and hit an instant shot that went just wide of Edwin van der Sar's goal. That was to be Shola's last act as he was withdrawn for Nile Ranger.

St James' Park had quietened down a bit, but they were woken back up again when Michael Owen was introduced as the away side went all out for the win. Ironically the introduction of a man who couldn't motivate Newcastle when he was here somehow managed to do just that as the home side woke up for the final ten minutes and started to threaten again.

Ryan Giggs flashed a shot just wide after finding the ball at his feet in the area, and there was a scare in injury time when Javier Hernandez went down under a Danny Simpson challenge, which resulted in the Mexican receiving a booking for simulation. All I'll say is that if Lovenkrands wasn't awarded a penalty then neither was this one.

That was it for the action as Lee Probert blew the whistle. A fantastic point for Newcastle which moves them up to ninth and sees us hit the magic 40 point barrier.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Cheik Tiote, Danny Guthrie, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands.

Subs: Ole Soderberg, James Perch, Steven Taylor, Ryan Taylor, Stephen Ireland, Nile Ranger, Shefki Kuqi.

Man Utd: Edwin van der Sar, John O’Shea, Chris Smalling, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Nani, Michael Carrick, Anderson, Ryan Giggs, Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney.

Subs: Tomasz Kuszczak, Fabio Da Silva, Jonny Evans, Darron Gibson, Ji-Sung Park, Antonio Valencia, Michael Owen.

Referee: Lee Probert.

Attendance: 49,025.