Dire United hold on for point against bottom side Norwich

Newcastle United welcomed Norwich to St James Park this afternoon knowing that a win could move then into the top half of the table and possibly just two wins away from safety this season.

However, having suffered once at the hands of the Canaries this terms, a 3-1 reverse at Carrow Road, all in black and white knew that there was no room for complacency.

And wary Newcastle should have been. Norwich dominated the play and had most of the chances from start to finish, also having most of the clear cut chances with both Pukki and Duda both missing glorious chances to win the game.

In the end though not even the usual jammy late winner for Newcastle would rescue the mood. Dire from the start, handing on against the bottom side by the end. Awful.

Bruce had restrained himself from dropping new boys Lazaro and Rose straight into the first team, with Bentaleb making his second start for the Magpies after playing against Oxford in the Cup last weekend. Both, however, made the bench.

STARTING XI: Dubravka, Yedlin (Lazaro, 54), Clark, Lascelles, Fernandez, Ritchie, Hayden (S Longstaff, 57), Bentaleb, Almiron, Saint-Maximin (Rose, 78), Joelinton

Saint-Maximin was the first to sting the palms of either keep after being set free in the opening exchanges but the Frenchman’s effort was comfortable enough for ex-Mag Krul.

One thing was clear from the start, just as in the first game between these sides, the high possession style that Norwich adopt was going to serve them well against a Newcastle side who are happy to let the opposition play that way.

And on 7 minutes, after the visitors had forced a corner, Dubravka was forced into making a point blank save from Byram.

Saint-Maximin had the crowd on their feed again on the 15 minute mark with a run and cross that almost allowed Yedlin to drift in at the back post. T