Newcastle 1-1 Aston Villa - Match highlights and interviews

Match highlights of the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa yesterday for you all to ponder over now.

It should have been three points yesterday but it wasn't to be and in the end I would say that a draw is a fair result. Paul Lambert's side worked hard for their share of the spoils and caused us problems all afternoon whilst we once again looked bereft of ideas until a moment of magic from Hatem Ben Arfa.

The thing is we are relying on him too much. Villa did a good job of marking him out of the game in the first half and we saw nothing from the talented Frenchman. That wasn't especially his fault as there is only so much one player can do when he has two or three following him around.

However this is where his team mates should be stepping up and taking some of the strain and to be fair they just aren't right now and that needs to change.

The pleasing side is that it is plainly obvious we can play better than we have been doing and I'm pretty certain everything will click into place at some point. When it does we'll be fine but the longer our disjointed performances go on the harder it will be to keep up with the big boys like we did last season.

Onwards and upwards I guess...