Newcastle United's chances of playing top-four spoiler were seriously damaged on Saturday afternoon, as they dropped two points in a 2-2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at St. James' Park. The Magpies were unlucky to give up both goals, but at the end of the day didn't do enough to create clear-cut chances against Wolves, who fought hard in the second half and earned a draw.
Papiss Cisse scored the opener just six minutes in after a bit of a scramble and some lucky bounces. The move started when Christophe Berra lost possession in his own half, and that eventually resulted in a shot by Cheik Tiote. His shot was blocked, but into the path of Cisse, who poked it in. Newcastle's second would come in the 18th minute through Jonas Gutierrez, whose shot from 20-yards out took a wicked deflection, giving Wayne Hennessey no chance to make a save.
Wolves would get a deflected goal of their own from Matt Jarvis in the 50th minute, with the deflection causing the ball to loop over the outstretched hand of Tim Krul and into the back of the net. The equalizer came in the 68th minute on a set piece, with the ball deflecting around like a pinball before Kevin Doyle finished the chance and rescued a point for his team.
Though Wolves got off to a bad start, caretaker manager Terry Connor will be happy with the result in his first game in charge. In the Premier League's tight five-way race to avoid the three relegation spots, one point was enough to move Wolves out of the bottom three. Newcastle are still in sixth, but are now three points behind Chelsea for fourth place.
For more on the Magpies, check out Newcastle United blog Coming Home Newcastle.
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