Barry miss hands Souness a reprieve

On Saturday Barry returned with Aston Villa and was, quite unwittingly, afforded a similar role again.

This time, unlike on April 2 when he scored two spot-kicks in a humiliating 3-0 win, his inadvertent wayward penalty over Shay Given's crossbar could have saved manager Graeme Souness from a confrontation with chairman Freddy Shepherd, which would have led to the Scot being sacked.

A defeat to Villa, together with a similarly soporific performance to that which cost them a place in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup at Wigan a few days earlier, and there was widespread belief Souness' 14 month tenure would have reached an end.

But Barry, a player capable of performing anywhere down the left-side and admired by the Newcastle boss, saved Newcastle from embarrassment by directing his shot from 12 yards off target and the honours were shared.

On the balance of play the result was probably fair but, regardless of who deserved what, a solitary point was hardly the reward Souness, his players, or the 50,000 Geordies actually wanted as they looked to climb into the top half of the table.

Instead Newcastle remain in the lower reaches having failed to win any of their last four, struggling to make inroads on the Champions League spot demanded by Shepherd and unlikely to end 36-years without a trophy this season.

The fans made their anguish known at the full-time whistle by booing, while inside St James' there was no repeat of the calls for the manager's removal that could be heard at Wigan - although there was a small demonstration outside the Milburn Stand.

But Souness was in defiant mood, choosing not to think about the prospect of losing his job in the future and more on the pleasure he felt from seeing his players fight for his own cause.

"I saw the chairman on Friday and I have no plans to see him again soon," said Souness, who is unlikely to be replaced just yet purely through a lack of available contenders for the post. "I only want to talk about the game, not what it might mean for me.

"If you are not winning games you don't have confidence and you could see that from our play. But it was a good game of football in terms of effort from my players. I have got good types of players, good types. I know the players are with me, Saturday was no surprise."

Not even Alan Shearer's 198th goal for the club - he is three away from breaking Jackie Milburn's long-standing record - from the penalty spot just after the half hour could push Newcastle on to secure only Souness' 33rd win from 73 matches since taking charge.

Scott Parker's volley from the edge of the area hit the arm of defender Liam Ridgewell and referee Alan Wiley awarded a penalty.

Shearer's kick proved too powerful for goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, although the former Sunderland No 1 did get something on the ball and looked for a moment to have saved the third penalty from the Newcastle skipper of his career.

But Newcastle failed to build on that and Villa were unlucky not be level at half-time. Midfielder Lee Hendrie hit the side-netting with a neat free-kick and was then adjudged to have dived inside the box when Titus Bramble looked to have made contact with a rash challenge.

Souness' decision to pair the defensively-minded Amdy Faye and Parker in central midfield hardly pointed to a gung-ho approach and the nervousness of Faye's early play suggested another anodyne display from the African.

But he grew in composure as the match developed and by the end of the game Faye, who could have won the game had Sorensen not made a fine stop from his powerful volley, was one of the home side's best performers.

Conversely, Bramble had started the game well. Keeping the threat of Milan Baros and Juan Pablo Angel at bay by a show of strength, while he also won everything in the air.

However, the former Ipswich man's performance deteriorated to such an extent that when he was needed the most he had lost complete control.

After Shearer's dipping volley had shaved the top of Sorensen's bar and Shay Given had palmed away a shot from Gavin McCann that looked destined for the top corner, Bramble proved once again he is all too prone to calamitous errors.

With quarter of an hour remaining, the £5m defender unnecessarily charged at least ten yards to close down Baros just inside the Newcastle half, leaving a gaping hole behind him.

Baros and Eirik Bakke combined to find Hendrie down the left, Jean-Alain Boumsong then ran across to close the winger down and left a similarly large hole for McCann to exploit.

Hendrie picked out the onrushing figure of McCann, who scored just eight times in five years at Sunderland, and he fired an unstoppable low drive into Given's bottom right corner.

Bramble's day should have got a lot worse when he was culpable for gifting Barry the late penalty chance. He outrageously went to ground on Baros inside the box when the Czech Republic striker looked like running the ball out for a goal-kick.

Fortunately for Bramble, Barry missed. Newcastle escaped with a point and Souness should be given a stay of execution.

But with difficult matches against Arsenal (h), West Ham (a), Liverpool (a), Charlton (h) and Tottenham pencilled in for Newcastle before the turn of the year the tough times don't look like easing.

"You are always only two games away from real pressure at this club," he said. "I knew that when I came here. It's been like this here for a long time and it will be like this for a long time to come.

"It's not been an enjoyable week but not tough either. There are far bigger things I worry about in life than football. We have been unfortunate but there are people far less fortunate around - we have people less fortunate every day visiting our training ground. If we won on Saturday and lost the next two then you'd be writing the same things again. That's the way life is here."

And Souness knows there will be no Gareth Barry figure to step in to save Newcastle's blushes again this month.

In fact the next time the two clubs do meet again Souness could well have departed.