Newcastle 2 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur: Ameobi grabs point in thriller

Local hero Shola Ameobi came off the bench to ensure Newcastle’s unbeaten start to the season remained intact with an entertaining draw against Tottenham at St James’ Park.

The substitute blasted home his side’s second equaliser four minutes from time as a pulsating encounter ended all square.

Jermaine Defoe looked to have won it for the visitors when he fired past Tim Krul with 68 minutes gone, but Ameobi denied Spurs a fifth successive Barclays Premier League win, to the delight of the majority of the 46,420 crowd.

Rafael van der Vaart had put Harry Redknapp’s men ahead from the penalty spot five minutes before the break, but Demba Ba’s equaliser within three minutes of the restart set the scene for the late drama.

Spurs started brightly and the breakthrough arrived five minutes before half-time, and it did so to the horror of Newcastle defender Steven Taylor. Taylor tracked Adebayor’s run into the penalty area and saw the former Togo international go down under his challenge. Van der Vaart sent Krul the wrong way to open the scoring.

Newcastle needed just three minutes of the second half to get themselves back on terms, and they did so in some style as Gutierrez produced a wonderful, mazy run.

The Argentina international skipped pass Modric and then full-back Kyle Walker on the left before crossing for the unmarked Ba to slide in and send the ball goalwards, where Friedel could only carry it into his own net.

Redknapp opted for even more pace with 63 minutes gone when he replaced Van der Vaart with Defoe, and the newcomer wasted little time in making his mark.

He turned smartly on the midfielder’s pass to thump a left-footed shot past the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Friedel had to pull off fine saves from Tiote and then Ryan Taylor, but there was nothing he could do to stop Ameobi equalising with a drilled 86th-minute strike.