Newcastle goes mad for Kinnear

Joe Kinnear described himself as a bit of a lunatic last week but, of all clubs, at Newcastle United that might be no hindrance. On nights like this St James' Park is as big an asylum as England possesses and in his first match here as Newcastle United's latest and most controversial manager, a combination of Kinnear, referee Rob Styles, Shola Ameobi and Richard Dunne gave the inmates a bizarre piece of theatre they will not forget quickly.

Newcastle may not have won, but in coming back from 1-0 down against Manchester City, arguably the world's richest club, Newcastle played with 10 men for 77 minutes and were denied a victory only in the last four minutes.

Kinnear's new charges rediscovered a part of their personality in the process, the part that fights for the ball and enjoys being at St James' in the pouring rain. "We were dead on our feet at the end," said stand-in captain Nicky Butt, "but we've showed we have character."

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In two games as manager, Kinnear has overseen a comeback from 2-0 down at Everton to 2-2 and now this. With a trip to Sunderland on Saturday, the sense of revival is timely.

The 61 year-old Kinnear maintaining his cool even as Styles harshly dismissed Habib Beye in the 13th minute and awarded City a penalty kick. Beye was shown a straight red card for cutting across Robinho and though Beye made contact with the Brazilian, he also got a toe on the ball. It was a 50-50 decision at most and for Beye to be sent off was the work of a pedant.

Talking calmly afterwards, Kinnear said "it was a hard one to call" but he has asked Styles to reconsider his decision to dismiss Beye. "He's prepared to look at it," Kinnear said of Styles, but the tenor was not hopeful. It was different among the fans and, Kinnear said, inside the home dressing room. "It's on fire. We've got a lot of things going for us." Considering Newcastle stay second bottom of the Premier League, that could sound optimistic but that was understandable.

City's manager Mark Hughes also thought the penalty was the key moment. Although City took the lead through Robinho's strike, Hughes said City "dictated the tempo better before when the teams were equal. But then the crowd roared them on and they got a little bit lucky on both goals. Their first came after three ricochets and the second was a freak goal."

Beye's red card was a stimulus to the 46,000 but Shay Given's block from Micah Richards three minutes after Robinho's goal was crucial to the result. In an increasingly raucous atmosphere, Given's save gave Newcastle a foothold and Damien Duff should have equalised before Ameobi did. The ball was on Duff's good left foot but his shot was too easy for Joe Hart.

That was the 35th minute and six followed before an episode of pinball, including a wild slice by Dunne, saw the ball come to Ameobi eight yards out. In keeping with the erratic of nature of the delivery, Ameobi skewed his shot past Hart. It was Ameobi's first goal for more than two years. An indication of the turmoil that pre-dates Kinnear was that, in the time since, Newcastle have had three permanent managers and three caretakers.

The latest has likened Ameobi to John Fashanu and while that may be inaccurate, Ameobi gave a glimpse of his younger self. He was heckled off in his last match; he was applauded off last night.

It was 2-1 when Ameobi was substituted in the 79th minute. Having seized the initiative after the interval, Newcastle got a strange reward on 62 minutes when Dunne spanked Geremi's corner into his own top corner. The City captain may take up smoking again after this.

But his Irish compatriot Stephen Ireland kept going. Given was forced into a flying 84th-minute save from Ireland and two minutes later Robinho slid a sweet pass into Ireland's path and he poked it beyond Given. That took some of the puff from Newcastle's chest but when the final whistle blew the crowd cheered their players and Kinnear received pats on the back.

This was a morale-booster and the coming-days scans on Michael Owen and Jonas Gutierrez will reveal if they are available for Wearside.

Just in case there was not enough action last night, Alan Shearer warned that Owen could soon leave. "It is so unstable at the present moment you can't blame players for looking elsewhere if their contracts are running out," said Shearer. Yet wherever he was, even the club's owner Mike Ashley may have enjoyed this.

Goals: Robinho pen (14) 0-1; Ameobi (43) 1-1; Dunne og (63) 2-1; Ireland (86) 2-2

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Given; Beye, Taylor, Coloccini, Bassong; Geremi, Butt, Guthrie, Duff; Ameobi (Carroll, 79), Martins (N'Zogbia, 72). Substitutes not used: Harper; Enrique, Cacapa, Edgar, Xisco.

Manchester City (4-2-1-3): Hart; Richards (Onuoha, 58), Ben-Haim, Dunne, Garrido (Sturridge, 83); Kompany, Hamann (Evans, 64); Ireland; Wright-Phillips, Jo, Robinho. Substitutes not used: Schmeichel; Berti, Elano, Fernandes.

Referee: R Styles.

Booked: Manchester City Garrido, Kompany.

Sent off: Newcastle Beye (12).

Man of the match: Given.

Attendance: 45,908.