Aston Villa forced a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United at St James' Park on Saturday.
On a soaking wet day in the north east, the Magpies hit the front through captain Fabricio Coloccini who found space at the back post to fire home Siem de Jong's corner in the 38th minute.
De Jong could have put the contest out of reach for Villa in the 57th minute but put his pointblank header wide before Jordan Ayew made the Dutchman pay by producing a stunning strike on the turn to level it up for the visitors.
The draw saw Steve McClaren's Newcastle fall to 17th following Norwich City's win over Manchester United while Remi Garde's Villa remain rooted to the bottom of the table with just seven points from 17 matches.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Newcastle United: 1 (Fabricio Coloccini 38')
Aston Villa: 1 (Jordan Ayew 61')
St James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 48,234
TALKING POINTS
- A missed chance for Newcastle to move away from the bottom three. Nevertheless, there have been improvements in recent weeks. Can they survive under McClaren?
- Villa brave in managing a point but they require wins, not draws. Garde set to ring the changes in January.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Newcastle next host Everton on Boxing Day when Villa welcome West Ham United.
TWITTER INSIGHT
I know, I should have scored need to keep improving and keep getting results! #NUFC
— Siem de Jong (@siemdejong) December 19, 2015Manager on Monday: Garde hails Ayew as a “special, decisive" player. His views: https://t.co/1ohUjkHGzw#AVFCpic.twitter.com/jxUfiFQZI9
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) December 21, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
Newcastle's McClaren on the frustration of not putting the game away:
"Two minutes later, they go and equalise and then we have a bad 10-minute spell. But then I thought we recovered well from that and really went for the game at the end and again had two good chances with Gini [Wijnaldum] and Ayoze [Perez].
"So it's frustration, for definite, but the players - we should win that game with the chances. But that's football and sometimes you do, sometimes you don't."
Villa boss Garde on the improvement of his team:
"You know, maybe this is the point that we will need at the end of the season, and then I want to be optimistic regarding the way we reacted in the second half."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
2 - Aston Villa have been relegated in each of the two previous top-flight seasons that they were bottom as Xmas (1935-36 & 1958-59). Glum.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 19, 2015