Nolan sees red as Newcastle and Everton draw

Newcastle 0 Everton

Kevin Nolan owed a huge debt of thanks to his Newcastle team-mates as they fought their way to a precious point after he had been sent off.

The midfielder saw red for an ugly 43rd-minute lunge at Victor Anichebe just as his side had recovered from a blitz by the visitors which saw Steve Harper save from Joseph Yobo and Jack Rodwell.

Peter Lovenkrands and substitute Jonas Gutierrez both went close for the Magpies either side of half-time, but the teams could not be separated.

Newcastle's best chance looked to be to hit the visitors on the counter-attack, and they almost did just that with 17 minutes remaining when Martins played Jonas into space, although his chipped left-foot shot sailed over the bar.

Moyes replaced Gosling with former Magpie Louis Saha, making his first appearance since damaging a hamstring in November, seconds later as he stepped up the search for a winner.

Hughton responded by replacing Lovenkrands with Alan Smith, but Harper had to be alert to deal with an underhit back-pass from Steven Taylor as Saha bore down on him with seven minutes remaining.

Saha fired over from 25 yards under pressure from Bassong with five minutes to play and Jagielka blasted a late free-kick well off target, but the home side managed to hang on.