Stoke City 0 Newcastle Utd 0:An FA Cup struggle is bad enough for a manager without it being billed as a battle for his professional life. When Sam Allardyce moved to Newcastle United he surely hoped to be playing for higher stakes than he had at Bolton Wanderers, but he could never have supposed he would be gambling with his reputation and, in consequence, his future.
He will be able to tolerate a night when the odds were not tipped even further against him. In its way, a draw in an FA Cup tie of this passionate character is satisfactory and a replay in Tyneside should be acceptable.
Newcastle endured here despite dwindling in the second half. That was an agonising phase, but for outsiders there is a ghoulish fascination to Allardyce's plight.
It is interesting to discover where a manager's instincts lie at such a moment in his career. Those who guessed that he would insist on sending out a rough-hewn team were wrong. His desire, unfeasible as it proved to be, was to establish that Newcastle are of a higher order, with their Premier League status glaringly apparent against opponents from the Championship.
There was a combative core to the visitors' midfield in the pairing of Nicky Butt, who was booked before the interval for a foul on Liam Lawrence, and Alan Smith, but that was offset by the selection of natural wingers on either flank. With Michael Owen fit to start for the first time since his latest thigh injury, Allardyce had a seemingly imposing partnership in attack, where Mark Viduka was also present.
Stoke, though, apparently had more regard for Newcastle United than the world at large. They did not seem dejected at being pinned down or unprepared for the necessity of scuffling their way through periods of the game, appreciating that their time would come. The resilience was there from the 13th minute when Ryan Shawcross executed a sharp tackle to staunch a flowing run by Charles N'Zogbia.
The morale of Newcastle is, nonetheless, far too delicate for them to go on the rampage. Stoke's manager, Tony Pulis, can have had no complaints as his men stayed solid and waited for a suppressed nervousness to force its way out in Allardyce's squad.
Newcastle, after all, came to the Britannia Stadium after losing their three previous matches. There was no means of relieving that pressure rapidly. When, for instance, Owen threatened to go clear in the 25th minute the goalkeeper, Steve Simonsen, was vigilant enough to charge out and smother at his feet. Allardyce's line-up failed to instil a sense of inferiority in Stoke.
No sooner, for example, had Owen caught the eye in that incident than Ricardo Fuller was stirring the home support with a drive that cannoned off a Newcastle defender.
Newcastle are in one of those phases where there is as much frustration as fear. With 56 minutes gone, for instance, N'Zogbia sent in a free-kick that Viduka forced against a post. The melee proceeded and Owen appeared to misjudge his jump so that he missed a cross from Damien Duff when he might have headed into an open goal. All the while Pulis's plan for this tie was becoming more apparent.
Stoke were readier to take risks in the second half and see if they could bring about as much upheaval in the Newcastle back four as Premier League teams have so regularly done. The fragility was exposed almost as soon as Stoke opted for ebullience. The members of Allardyce's defence were nervous and unsure of one another's positioning.
Pulis's decision to introduce Jon Parkin for Mamady Sidibe added to the mayhem. He looked set to score after Fuller had rounded Shay Given and pulled the ball back in the 67th minute, but the combination of Steven Taylor and Abdoulaye Faye on the goal-line diverted the shot behind for a corner. From it Parkin used his aerial power and demanded a save from Given.
In the cold and the rain the tie had become a gruelling struggle and the poise that Newcastle had initially aspired to was no more than a forgotten plan.
The home support sang all the louder about Allardyce being "sacked in the morning".
