Newcastle 1-1 Tottenham

Aaron Lennon broke Newcastle's hearts at the death once again as Tottenham fought back to snatch a draw at St James' Park.

Lennon struck a minute into injury time just when it looked as though Fabricio Coloccini's 59th-minute winner had handed the Magpies all three points.

However, just as they had done last Sunday at Sunderland, Alan Pardew's men conceded in stoppage time to let two points slip from their grasp.

Spurs would argue that they deserved at least a point after dominating for long periods, but they left it desperately late to get their reward.

Leon Best and Luka Modric both it the bar and the Magpies were indebted to goalkeeper Steve Harper for two fines saves.

Newcastle went into the game once again shorn of key players Andy Carroll, Cheik Tiote and Steven Taylor and with Alan Smith ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

Spurs had lost on each of their previous four visits to St James' Park, but the two clubs have enjoyed contrasting fortunes since their last encounter on Tyneside.

The visitors started at a high tempo and lone striker Jermain Defoe whipped a third-minute shot across Harper's goal after keeper Carlo Cudicini, deputising for the injured Heurelho Gomes, sparked a lightning attack with an early throw to Lennon.

Defoe was to prove a thorn in the Newcastle side for much of the opening 45 minutes, although without troubling Harper unduly until the dying seconds of injury time.

Spurs dominated possession, but as the Magpies got men behind the ball, they struggled to break their hosts down.

Man-of-the moment Gareth Bale, who lined up at left-back with new signing Steven Pienaar taking over ahead of him, lasted just 11 minutes before limping off to be replaced by Tyneside old boy Sebastien Bassong, and that removed one potential problem for Pardew's men.

There were plenty of others, however, although the Newcastle boss will have been reasonably satisfied with the way those challenges were met by his players.

Indeed, they started to make an impression themselves and after Shola Ameobi had failed to hit the target with two half-chances, they almost took the lead with 28 minutes gone.

Jose Enrique, who was largely occupied by Lennon, got forward well to send an inviting cross to the far post, where Best slid in to divert the ball on to the crossbar.

Spurs finished the half with a flurry, and almost went in front in injury time when they put together their best move of the half.

Rafael van der Vaart flicked Pienaar's pass into the path of Defoe, who seemed certain to score before Harper spread himself to make a vital block.

Newcastle returned in determined mood with Best proving a handful in the opening minutes of the second half, heading wide from a Jonas Gutierrez cross and seeing a shot blocked as he caused problems on the edge of the box.

But as the home side pushed men forward, the visitors started to exploit the space they left behind, although Pienaar in particular was unable to make the most of several promising openings.

However, it was the home side who took the lead in stunning fashion with 59 minutes gone when Coloccini controlled Danny Guthrie's cross on his chest before smashing a shot past Cudicini.

Tottenham would have been level within six minutes had it not been for another crucial intervention by Harper, who turned Lennon's well-struck shot around the post with the visitors responding.

Harry Redknapp sent on striker Peter Crouch for midfielder Jermaine Jenas with 19 minutes remaining, but Newcastle could have been 2-0 up within seconds when Joey Barton split the Spurs defence and substitute Peter Lovenkrands saw his first-time shot blocked by Cudicini.

Harper had his crossbar to thank for denying Luka Modric a 76th-minute equaliser with a fine right-foot drive, but substitute Nile Ranger wasted a glorious opportunity to secure victory in the final minute of normal time.

The miss proved costly in injury time when Lennon cut inside and blasted a right-foot shot past Harper to snatch a point.

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew was left disappointed after seeing two Premier League points snatched from his team's grasp for the second time in a week.

Just as they were last Sunday at Sunderland, the Magpies looked to be heading for victory when they were pegged back by an injury-time equaliser and Pardew said: "If you have got a regular team that's winning every week and confident, you would have a little bit more je ne sais quoi about you to see games out and be a bit more relaxed.

"Perhaps because we had conceded late last week, the answer was, 'Well, we got a bit deep last week, let's go and get the second', and of course, that cost us today. The balance is somewhere in the middle.

"Some senior players were disappointed last week, and even more so this week, but we will correct that, we will get that right. When you are a nailed-on, good team in the Premier League, that wouldn't have happened.

"We ain't that yet, we have still got to work towards that, but there were a lot of good signs today."

Asked about Coloccini's contribution, Pardew said: "I thought he was the stand-out player in the game, personally. He was brilliant in the back four today.

"He made a tackle on Defoe in the first five minutes of the second half where he detached himself from the player he was marking and stopped a goal.

"Then he went up the other end and once he had chested it and brought it inside, he is so proficient technically, I fancied him to get a good hit, which he did.

"It was a great, great goal, I am so pleased for him. He is a really likeable character."

Harry Redknapp breathed a huge sigh of relief after believing his team were about to leave Tyneside empty-handed.

Redknapp said: "When you are losing 1-0 that late in the game, it's a point gained. You are obviously delighted in the end to get something out of the game.

"But credit to Newcastle, they are a dangerous side. They are playing well and on the counter-attack, they were always a threat, always a danger."

Redknapp was happy enough with Steven Pienaar's performance on debut, but was dealt a blow when Gareth Bale, employed once again at left-back, left the field with a recurrence of a troublesome back injury after just 11 minutes.

"It's been dragging on for a few weeks now, this back, so hopefully we can get it sorted out quickly," Redknapp said. "You don't know with back injuries, do you?

"It's a shame. We need him playing for sure. There wouldn't be a better left-sided player anywhere than Gareth Bale, that's for sure."