Shola Ameobi kept up his astonishing record against Sunderland climbing off the bench to rescue a late point for Newcastle in a fiercely contested Tyne and Wear Derby at St James’ Park.
The 30-year-old’s injury time strike was his seventh against the Black Cats and provided a huge sigh of relief for Toon supporters after Demba Ba missed penalty five minutes earlier. Nicklas Bendtner’s first half spot kick looked to have handed Martin O’Neill’s side a priceless victory in a derby game that produced eight yellow cards and two dismissals. Stephane Sessegnon was sent off just before the hour after elbowing Cheick Tiote with Lee Cattermole shown a straight red after the final whistle for foul and abusive language towards referee Mike Dean.
It was the Sunderland skipper who set the tone of a stormy derby between the North East neighbours scything down Tiote and forcing Dean to brandish a yellow card with just 40 seconds on the clock. Yohan Cabaye also made into the referee’s notebook for a late tackle on Phil Bardsley before emotions threatened to spill over after James McClean and Danny Simpson clashed in the Gallowgate corner with both players earning a caution. Dean was having his work cut out to keep both teams in check but didn’t have to wait long before delving into his pocket again to card Mike Williamson after he hauled Michael Turner down in the penalty area. Bendtner stepped up to confidently stroke the ball past Tim Krul for his fourth goal since signing on loan from Arsenal in the summer.
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A lacklustre Newcastle attempted to launch a respond but were repeatedly thwarted by the visitors back four with Turner and John O’Shea doing brilliantly to keep Ba and strike partner Papiss Cisse under wraps. The former did come close to equalising just before half time rattling the crossbar with a thumping header whilst captain Fabricio Coloccini was denied by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. However the tables turned after the break with Alan Pardew’s decision to throw Hatem Ben Arfa on for the second half paying dividends with the Frenchman causing all sorts of problems down the right. Sunderland still posed a threat on the break and would have been two ahead if it wasn’t for a superb double save by Krul who managed to keep both Bendtner and Sebastian Larsson out.
It proved costly as minutes later Sessegnon was given his marching orders for petulantly striking out at Tiote as the Ivorian snapped at his ankles. Dean was looking straight at the incident and didn’t hesitate in sending the playmaker for an early bath. The Magpies stepped up their efforts to bring the game level but just couldn’t find a way through the Red and White rearguard that repel everything thrown at them. They were also indebted to Mignolet for keeping out Ben Arfa’s left foot strike who then saw his penalty appeals fall on deaf ears after tumbling inside the area under McCleans challenge. Dean did point to the spot with eight minutes to go after Ameobi was felled by a wild lunge from Fraizer Campbell. But Mignolet guess right to keep out Ba’s penalty as groans reverberated around St James’. It was left to Newcastle’s longest serving player of the current generation to save the day with Ameobi pouncing on Williamson’s flick to bundle the ball home from close range and keep his tag as a Derby Day specialist.
