Newcastle United were held to a 1-1 draw by National League side Gateshead in their second pre-season friendly, needing a late own goal to avoid defeat at the Gateshead International Stadium.
Eddie Howe remained without several senior players following the World Cup, while summer signing Sean Steur was handed another opportunity after making his debut in the previous weekend’s 3-0 win over Darlington.
Newcastle controlled possession from the
opening stages and created several chances through Sean Neave, Harvey Barnes and Joe Willock, but Gateshead goalkeeper Adam Desbois repeatedly denied the visitors.
The hosts then took the lead against the run of play when Billy Chadwick’s free-kick deflected across the penalty area and Luke Supyk reacted quickest to finish past Nick Pope.
Newcastle continued to dominate after half-time but struggled to turn their possession into clear opportunities, with Barnes, Jacob Murphy and Willock all failing to get close to hitting the net.
At the end of the day, Steur was one of the brighter performers during an team-wide bad display, showing confidence in possession and playing progressive passes throughout the 90 minutes, while Lewis Hall repeatedly threatened down the left as perhaps the best overall player on the pitch.
The equalizer finally arrived in the 79th minute when Jacob Ramsey released Hall, whose low cross was put into his own net by Ben Williams.
Newcastle pushed for a winner afterward, but Gateshead held firm to secure a draw that was equally boring and disappointing.
Howe used 20 players and gave minutes to several academy prospects as Newcastle used the game more to build fitness than anything else.
The Geordies are back in action on Wednesday for their third friendly of the preseason, this time against Bristol City, in the final matchup before the team flies to Spain for a warm-weather training camp in La Manga.
