WITH one casual remark, Sir Bobby Robson unwittingly explained why Newcastle United will not lift the Premiership this season.

"Arsenal or Manchester United might have won this game," he said.

"They might have seen the last three minutes out, but we didn't do it. We lost the ball in midfield and then they got a penalty."

For "might have" won, one can substitute "would have" won. And therein lies the reason why Newcastle remain one step behind the Premiership elite.

Everton were a defeated, dispirited team on Saturday following Alan Shearer's second spot-kick - but Newcastle threw their hosts a lifeline.

Of course, the passing of time and more harsh lessons such as the one learned by Jermaine Jenas in the dying stages on Saturday will improve this young Magpies team.

But for all the grit and determination that permeated through Newcastle's performance at Goodison, that lack of a clinical edge to their play will continue to undermine their title aspirations.

The character they showed was admirable - particularly after the sending off of Laurent Robert dealt a further setback to an ailing Newcastle, still without a win in the Premiership since May.

But even the much-awaited return of Craig Bellamy did not bring about a miraculous upturn in the Magpies' fortunes.

Then again, he and Shearer saw so little of the ball in the first half that they could be exempted from criticism of their side's anaemic display.

"Winning ugly", the professionals call it - managing to play badly and still emerge victorious.

United and Arsenal have that quality, but it is an ingredient that is absent from the Newcastle mix.

They should still be in the Champions League shake-up come next spring, but the success-starved Toon Army can expect a top three finish at best.

Shearer said: "That was a battling performance. It wasn't vintage Newcastle but not many teams can come here and play vintage football.

"We all feared the worst when we went down to ten men but the fans and the manager were looking at how we'd react to that - and from our point of view it was positive.

"We've shown we've got fighting spirit in the camp. We can play better but you don't come to Goodison every day.

"We're at home to Bolton next week and we're expected to take three points from that game."

Robson admitted both Everton's equalisers came following defensive errors, although Newcastle would have been fortunate victors.

Robson said: "We twice had the game won, but threw it away. But I think both sides will feel they were unlucky not to get the three points.

"As I've said before, the fight in the dog will see us through the dogfight.

"We gave a really rugged performance full of spirit. We had to play with one less man for almost 20 minutes but we fought very hard."

Newcastle responded well to Robert's red card, with Shearer scoring his first penalty after Gary Naysmith had been sent off for a professional foul on Kieron Dyer.

But Everton then threw Duncan Ferguson into the fray and the former Newcastle striker's arrival added a new dimension to their attack.

Soon they were level, Tomasz Radzinski scoring from 12 yards after the Magpies had failed to clear their lines.

The Magpies had the three points presented to them when Joseph Yobo conceded a penalty by fouling Olivier Bernard, with Shearer again beating Nigel Martyn.

But then the jet-heeled Radzinski was bundled over by Jenas, and Ferguson gave this eventful game a dramatic denouement with an assured spot-kick from 12 yards.

Result: Everton 2, Newcastle United 2.

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