EVERY football club craves that player that can produce a moment of magic out of nowhere. Allan St Maximin was kept quiet for most of the afternoon at Molineux but anything Rueben Neves could do from distance, he could do better as a stupendous volley just before stoppage time earned Newcastle a late point on the road to Wolves.

A fast start to the game saw both sides have early chances. Chris Wood was threaded in behind the Wolves defence and tried to take his first touch around Jose Sa only for the keeper to dive across and block the shot at a tight angle. Wolves then caught Newcastle on the break as a wicked diagonal from Rueben Neves freed up Goncalo Guedes on the right. Pedro Neto burst into the box and received a low cross but pressure from Nick Pope forced the winger to prod the ball over the bar.

On the ten minute mark, Joe Willock missed a guilt edged chance when a flurry of blocked shots fell his way in the box but the young midfielder dragged his weak shot wide of the post.

Sven Botman had to come to Newcastle’s rescue with a great piece of defending. Kieran Trippier lost possession to Raul Jiminez and the Mexican delivered a curling ball into the box. It was on a plate for Nunes only for Botman to stretch every fibre of his body to flick the ball behind as Nunes directed his header wide.

Whenever you see on a scoresheet Rueben Neves has bagged for Wolves, you have to expect that it was a screamer from outside the box. It was no different for the Portuguese midfielder at Molineux. After some last ditch defending from Newcastle from a set piece, Wolves kept the attack alive and found Neves on the edge of the box. All he needed was one touch and he let fly from 25 yards and to little surprise, the ball flew into the bottom left corner.

There was a brief moment of panic for the away side minutes into the second half. Fabian Schar caught the ankle of Neto and was cautioned by Peter Bankes. A VAR review for a red card hushed Molineux but the officials deemed the punishment to be correct and the Swiss stayed on the pitch.

Newcastle showed that they weren’t out of this game and forced the issue back onto Wolves. Bruno Large’s side had to put bodies on the line to block out efforts from Joelinton and Miguel Almiron before a deflected Schar strike on the edge of the box whistled just wide. But in truth, having just Chris Wood in attack limited them with no Callum Wilson or Alexander Isak to bring off the bench.

But the Magpies efforts would not wane and the Molineux home crowd began to get restless. The threatened with plenty of cross into the area that had to be manfully defended while Almiron’s darting runs were causing plenty of problems.

With numbers forward, Wolves broke on Newcastle and Ryan Fraser looked to be fouled when Neto clipped his heels and ran away with the ball. He squared it to Raul Jiminez who did the rest and finished low. Newcastle players charged towards the referee furiously but VAR assessed the previous incident and gave the correct call of a foul on Fraser. Goal chalked off and game still on for the Magpies.

Newcastle began to rally themselves as the game approached the dying embers. They couldn’t break down the orange wall but a moment of magic from their dazzling Frenchman brought them back into it.

Jacob Murphy chased down a ball on the right hand side but was crowded out at the byline. A scooped clearance went high rather than far which alerted St Maximin. He watched the ball all the way down and he struck the sweetest of efforts on the volley from the edge of the box. Jose Sa completed stunned as the ball nestled into the bottom right corner. They don’t get much better than that.

Into stoppage time, Newcastle will feel annoyed they didn’t end up winning the tie. From a Wolves corner, they broke through St Maximin but saw Jose Sa palm his effort on the charge this time. But it was Elliot Anderson’s neat footwork that gave them the glaring opportunity to win it as he was brought down in the box.

Step up Fabian Schar right inside the dee. But in the last kick of the game, he dragged his shot wide and that was all she wrote on an entertaining Premier League affair. A draw probably a fair result on the balance of play but the unbeaten run continues for Eddie Howe’s side.