From a yard the Welshman slammed the inside of the post and Shearer who last week scored his 300th League goal

From a yard, the Welshman slammed the inside of the post and Shearer, who last week scored his 300th League goal and this week was searching for his 100th for Newcastle, couldn’t poach the rebound.He did, though, start the next Newcastle move with a 50-yard pass that Robert killed and lifted into the path of Jermaine Jenas, whose volley cleared the goal.And so it was Charlton who broke the deadlock with half-an-hour played. Claus Jensen, the architect of all their better moves, sent a high ball into the box and Andy O’Brien headed it higher still. When it dropped, Shaun Bartlett broke Titus Bramble’s block and slid in his first league goal of the season.It took Griffin just six minutes to level, but still Charlton should have gone in ahead at half-time. In the 40th minute, Scott Parker passed to Jensen who slid the ball on to Bartlett, but the South African couldn’t beat Given for a second time.Newcastle opened the second half with a vicious Robert drive that left Kiely at full stretch and Parker and John Robinson in a long argument about whose space the Frenchman had violated.They plainly hadn’t decided moments later when Robert was free again on the left as Nolberto Solano fed Shola Ameobi. The forward rolled Gary Rowett and played the ball into the winger, who struck a venomous shot for his first goal of the season.Charlton were energised by three fresh pairs of legs in the last 20 minutes and only an heroic block from Aaron Hughes denied Rowett the equaliser. But with Bramble looking solid, Newcastle held on and now take on Kiev in good spirits.

To borrow one more of football’s culinary clich? a win then would be the icing on the cake.Newcastle United 2 Griffin 37, Robert 59Charlton Athletic 1 Bartlett 30Half-time: 1-1 Attendance: 51,670. Those who had predicted Aston Villa would serve merely as the hors d’oeuvres for Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of Rock of Gibraltar’s big race in Chicago were sorely mistaken. Graham Taylor’s under-fire team left Old Trafford with a deserved draw ­ and might even have taken all three points had they shown a little more conviction in front of goal. In the event, Manchester United were saved by a man who had never scored a Premiership goal in 23 previous appearances. Diego Forlan has been the subject of much ridicule inside and out of Manchester, but the £6.5 million man has, at long last, started to silence his critics. The significance of the goal was not lost on the fans, or indeed the player himself, who celebrated his header by removing his shirt before embarking on a wild run around the ground.

On a day when Liverpool won again, this was a crucial point for United. “We were shoddy and outbattled in the first half,” Ferguson admitted, “and Villa deserved to be in front But at least we pulled level. We have players to come back and we’ll get better.” They will have to.Aston Villa arrived in Manchester having scored no goals and secured no points on their travels No wonder, then, that the pressure was on. Bearing in mind those sorry facts, it is perhaps unsurprising that they started this match cagily. However, so poor was the home side’s first-half performance that Villa should have gone in to the break three goals up. Taylor continues to insist his team are playing good football, but not converting their chances.