Blackburn Rovers 1, Newcastle 1.

Byline: By Alan Oliver 

The Toon Army hoped they would see the real Newcastle United as Sir Bobby Robson's side set their sights on their first ever Premiership victory at Blackburn Rovers.

And they did - but only in the second half.

In the first half Blackburn ran all over United and Graeme Souness must have wondered why his side did not go in at the interval two or three goals to the good.

But it was a different story after the break, especially after a brilliant Craig Bellamy had given United a 52nd-minute lead with only his second Premiership goal since the middle of last January.

And, quite frankly, Blackburn never looked like pulling that goal back. There was no cavalry charge from Blackburn and no backs-to- the-wall or near-misses for United.

Certainly Jon Stead's 85th-minute equaliser came out of the blue leaving United to rue the fact that they have now drawn their last six away games in the Premiership.

To be fair, on the 90 minutes a draw was probably the right result, but what was disappointing for United is that Blackburn's equaliser came so late in the game.

And the fact that their former coach Mick Wadsworth had recommended Stead to them when he was manager of Huddersfield Town and seeing his recommendation ignored will only make things worse for United.

If there was a bright spot for Sir Bobby Robson it was Bellamy in his first start since the victory over Southampton at St James' Park on October 4.

And the fiery Welsh dragon really reminded United of what they have been missing.

It was vintage Bellamy who was full of running and aggression and always a threat to the slow-moving Rovers defence as the United striker showed that despite his long lay-off he has not lost any of his searing pace.

Significantly with Bellamy at his side Alan Shearer looked more like the Shearer of old and would have scored had not Brad Friedel kept out two crackers from the United skipper.

Unfortunately for Shearer United were poor on the flanks with left winger Laurent Robert clearly showing a lack of training, while on the other side Kieron Dyer spent almost all the first half chasing former Sunderland left back Michael Gray.

As a result Gray sent over a stream of left wing crosses and on several occasions the ball pinged all over the United penalty area without it somehow ending up in the back of the net in the first half.

Sven Goran Eriksson was in the Ewood Park director's box and with so much going on recently at both Old Trafford and Anfield, it was interesting to see the England coach choose to take in this match.

It can only have been to run the rule over Dyer and Jermaine Jenas. Dyer had a disappointing night and while Jenas looked lively, the former Nottingham Forest midfielder miskicked 10 yards out in injury time.

By then Eriksson had gone - and so too had United's hopes of the three points.