LONDON (Reuters) – Newcastle United held Crystal Palace to a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday in their first game since the departure of manager Steve Bruce after Callum Wilson’s acrobatic strike cancelled out Christian Benteke’s opener for the home side.
Newcastle, under interim manager Graeme Jones, were second best for the majority of the game but earned a share of the spoils as Palace were unable to capitalise on their chances despite dominating nearly 75% of possession.
Benteke gave Palace the breakthrough in the 56th minute before Wilson brought Newcastle level almost 10 minutes later with an overhead kick before Belgian striker Benteke had a late effort disallowed by VAR after a foul in the build-up.
Benteke latched onto an inviting cross from Tyrick Mitchell and powered through the Newcastle defence to head past goalkeeper Karl Darlow, making up for an earlier missed opportunity when he hit the post after 20 minutes.
Palace were then punished for failing to clear a corner, with Newcastle defender Emil Krafth heading the ball towards Wilson who produced an unstoppable bicycle kick.
Newcastle, who remain without a league win this season, remain second-bottom on four points, while Palace’s sixth draw leaves them in 15th place on nine points from nine games.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
