Carroll Makes Point With Leap Into Limelight

"There's probably no God." Newcastle and West Ham fans don't need the help of a new atheist advertising campaign on the side of buses to tell them this; merely following their teams this season requires the patience of a saint.

Financially and strategically, the football deities are not looking too kindly on either of these clubs at the minute. Even if generous applause did meet the curtailment of this fitfully entertaining match, come the witching hour at the end of the season West Ham could still regret not collecting all the points here when they should have. Newcastle may be glad of the draw, especially as eight first-team injuries have left them looking more ravaged than a Woolworths store on its final day, but just now they remain unconvincing.

Their form has dipped alarmingly since Christmas and the clamor to exit St James' is even more concerning. Of their "want-away" players, only the seemingly embittered Charles N'Zogbia was given the boo-boy treatment. There was a rousing chorus of "There's only one Shay Given" although that was immediately after he had given the volatile Craig Bellamy a talking to. It was the former Newcastle enigma who seemed to draw the collective derision of the crowd, though he was to have his revenge.

It was not until Newcastle had opened the scoring in the 19th minute, however. José Enrique slipped a short pass to Michael Owen from the left on the edge of the West Ham box. Crucially, James Collins slipped as he was about to confront Owen and, unopposed, the striker drilled a low, left-footed daisy cutter past Rob Green for his first goal in a month.

Ten minutes later a couple of St James' old boys popped up with the equalizer. Bellamy played a neat defence-splitting one-two with Scott Parker and his cheeky lob over Given added insult to injury for the Gallowgate end. Bellamy's bombastic celebration ended with a cuddle for Parker.

Fair play to West Ham; when they were defeated at home to Spurs at the beginning of December they looked gone, but since then they've stitched together results and are now six on the road undefeated. In a sign of their progress, Gianfranco Zola, who is confident that come 1 February he will still have his key players, was frustrated at just the point. "Considering the way we played it's a little disappointing we didn't win the game. We gave them a point when we deserved more than that," he said.

Indeed, after they equalized West Ham were stronger and they should have extended their lead either side of half-time but for an imperious Given producing world-class saves to deny Mark Noble and Jack Collison.

The third time, in the 55th minute, he was not so lucky. Hérita Ilunga dropped a howitzer in behind the Newcastle defence for Carlton Cole to beat the withering offside trap and whip a left-foot shot high past Given. It was a landmark goal for Cole, who has now entered uncharted career territory of four goals in four games.

Newcastle might have thought the football gods were totally against them midway through the second half as they had an own goal from Lucas Neill chalked off when the referee Alan Wiley correctly spotted a push by Steven Taylor on Collins, but they rallied in the 78th minute when Andy Carroll got his head on the end of Damien Duff's high cross to score his first goal for his hometown club.

Both sides knocked seven shades out of each other searching for a winner but to no avail. Somehow the British Humanist Association's other ungodly message to "Stop worrying and enjoy your life" still seems premature for Newcastle and West Ham supporters this season.