Newcastle United vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
St James' Park, NewcastleAttendance47,907.
Thursday 2 February 2017 07:12, UK
Ciaran Clark's late own goal denied Newcastle the chance to return to the top of the Sky Bet Championship table as they were held 2-2 by QPR.
The Irish defender nodded past his own goalkeeper in the 90th minute at St James' Park on Wednesday night, leaving Rafa Benitez's side a point behind leaders Brighton, who play Huddersfield on Thursday night.
Jonjo Shelvey had fired Newcastle in front after just 38 seconds, but QPR recovered well and levelled through Conor Washington on the stroke of half-time.
Matt Ritchie then headed the home side back in front shortly after the break, but Clark's late own goal meant the spoils were shared.
Benitez made nine changes from the side that was thumped by Oxford in the FA Cup on Saturday, and they paid immediate dividends as Newcastle took the lead inside the opening minute.
Yoan Gouffran surged down the left before seeing his cross headed away from the immediate danger area, but only as far as Shelvey, who drove it back into the net from the edge of the area.
QPR could have folded after seeing their gameplan taken apart so early on, but instead they were by far the better side throughout the first half, and caused Newcastle plenty of problems.
Washington made a huge difference off the bench in their defeat against Burton on Saturday, and he scored for the second consecutive game after 44 minutes, poking it home from close range after beating Clark to the ball.
Newcastle started the second half in incredibly sloppy fashion, nearly allowing QPR in with defensive lapses on no less than three occasions, the latter of which saw Pawel Wszolek force a fine save out of Karl Darlow.
But they managed to regain their lead after 54 minutes as Isaac Hayden's lofted ball found Ritchie at the far post, and he jumped highest to head back across goal and into the top corner.
Newcastle improved dramatically after taking the lead, and were only denied extending their advantage further by Alex Smithies. The QPR goalkeeper made two fine saves in three minutes, first denying Gouffran before then keeping out Ayoze Perez.
And they would pay for those missed chances in the 90th minute when Clark managed to head the ball past his own goalkeeper after Kazenga LuaLua, on loan at QPR from Brighton, had whipped the ball into the heart of the Newcastle box.
