GRAEME Souness was happy with a point at St Andrew's, but believed Newcastle could have come away with all three if the referee had handed the Magpies what he saw as a clear penalty.

Kenny Cunningham unceremoniously dumped Craig Bellamy on the turf after the speedy Welshman tore into the box in the 76th minute.

Despite Bellamy's protests, referee Howard Webb - who was well behind play at the time - waved play on.

His assistant was ten yards from the incident but his flag stayed firmly by his side, angering Souness after his side had battled back to earn a point after going 2-1 down.

Souness said: "We could have gone home with three points if the referee had given a foul

"He said he was 70 yards away and I asked him what about your linesman?

"He repeated that he was 70 yards away - on another day we'll get that."

The Magpies had taken an early lead through Jermaine Jenas only for Birmingham to fight back and go in front with strikes from substitute Dwight Yorke and Matthew Upson.

But Nicky Butt scored a cracker in the 67th minute - his first for Newcastle - to make it all square and substitute Laurent Robert almost stole it with a 35-yard free kick that rattled Maik Taylor's left post.

Overall Souness was pleased, despite seeing his 100 per cent record ended.

"We have to be happy with a point. For the neutral it was quite an interesting and entertaining game.

"This is a difficult place to come and get a result and we've had a difficult week in terms of travelling.

"A physical game on Thursday night, on Friday we travelled for five and a half hours and we were never going to be at our best today.

"People might think that I'm making excuses but anyone with any semblance of intelligence would work out that we've come here after a difficult week and there's no way were going to be at our best."

Souness was up against two players he clashed with in his days at Blackburn in David Dunn and Yorke.

Yorke scored after being set up by Dunn, who was instrumental in all Birmingham's creative play.

Souness, however, didn't believe his presence at St Andrew's had any bearing on their individual performances.

He said: "They're both good players and have a lot to offer.

"Whether they're old players of mine or not they're both good players.

"I think it would be wrong to say that because I was the manager today both those players tried extra hard."

* Souness confirmed that Patrick Kluivert came off as a precaution at half-time after feeling tightness in his hamstring. The Dutch international will have two weeks' rest after again being overlooked for the Holland squad by national boss Marco van Basten.

Read more about Newcastle United FC here.