Newcastle 2-2 Hull

by Roger Domeneghetti, at St James’s Park

In the build-up to this match it might have seemed that the Newcastle fans wanted independence from Alan Pardew but in the end the result of the referendum on his future was anything but clear.

The planned protest never really found its voice and there was little evidence of the 15,000 “Sack Pardew” signs handed out before the game.

Instead of hurling abuse at their manager the Toon Army got behind their team, just as Pardew had asked them to and his team fought back from 2-2 to earn a deserved point. They certainly did not look like players who had lost faith in their boss.

“It was important that our senior players stood up today,” said Pardew. “Cheick Tiote and Fabricio Coloccini really drove us on at 2-0 down and were key players in that turnaround.

“I also have to say thank you to our fans. I thought they took a view of loving their football club and seeing what happened today. I think we did enough on the pitch to win a few friends.

“It was tough, it was a tough day. But I tried to approach the day as a normal working day. I have been a manager for a number of years and I tried to focus my mind on the game.”

Newcastle made the early running before Hull forced their way into the match but it was a poor first half and neither keeper was really tested.

The visitors started the second half the brighter and Nikica Jelavic opened the scoring after just three minutes with a superb scissor kick that gave Tim Krul no chance.

Twenty minutes later the Dutchman was a spectator again as Mohammed Diame curled a shot in off the near post.

There was an immediate change of atmosphere and both sets of fans began serenading Pardew with “you’re getting sacked in the morning.”

The beleaguered boss responded by bringing on Papiss Cisse and got an almost instant reward when the Senegalese latched onto Tiote’s pass and fired home under Allan McGregor.

With just two minutes left he grabbed a second after Yoan Gouffran headed Moussa Sissoko’s cross back across goal.

The result left Hull’s Steve Bruce with mixed feelings.

He said: “The same thing happened this week when we were twice ahead against West Ham and now, instead of saying we have had a fantastic start to our season, all we can say is that we have made a decent start.

 “The quality of the two goals were fantastic but at 2-0 up at this level you should be able to close the game out. Unfortunately we made three horrible mistakes. It feels like a defeat to be honest.”