| By Paul Fletcher BBC Sport at the Hawthorns |
Newcastle and West Brom marked their return to the second tier of English football with a lively draw at The Hawthorns that saw the Magpies substitute keeper Tim Krul claim centre stage.
The Baggies took the lead when Shelton Martis, who had missed a golden chance in the opening minutes, scrambled the ball home after Newcastle failed to deal with a set piece, but Damien Duff struck a crisp right-foot equaliser after the break.
West Brom repeatedly came close to regaining the lead but 21-year-old Krul made four brilliant second-half saves.
The Dutch keeper, who replaced the injured Steve Harper at the break, twice saved crisp strikes from Robert Koren and also denied Luke Moore and Baggies substitute Graham Dorrans.
Jonas Olsson thought he had headed an injury-time winner for the home side that would ha! ve ensured Robert di Matteo's first meaningful game in charge ! at West Brom ended in victory but the goal was disallowed for offside.
The afternoon had started with a minute's applause in memory of Sir Bobby Robson - and shortly afterwards the match opened at a frenetic pace that would be maintained until the players started to tire in the final 20 minutes.
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Both teams looked to use the full width of the lush Hawthorns surface and Newcastle in particular played the ball through the middle third in a manner that was often pleasing on the eye.
However, the quality of the crossing and finishing was often awful. Newcastle's Jonas Gutierrez, playing on the left of midfield, was especially guilty of wasting several promising positions with poorly directed or over-hit crosses.
And if some of the finishing was of questionable quality then Newcastle's de! fending of set pieces was terrible throughout and should have ! cost the m a goal after only five minutes.
Martis completely lost his marker as a free-kick was floated into the Newcastle area but the Baggies defender, in yards of spaces, volleyed wide from eight yards after stretching to make contact with the ball.
It was an awful miss and he was almost made to pay for his profligacy when Gutierrez and the hard working Andy Carroll combined to set up a shooting chance for Duff but the Irish winger shot wide from 20 yards with his first-time strike.
There was to be no let off for the Magpies after Steve Harper came but failed to punch clear another free-kick after 39 minutes.
The ball dropped to Moore - again gifted far too much space - and although his shot was blocked, Martis reacted quickly to stab home from inside the six-yard box. Harper was accidentally kicked by Shola Ameobi and did not appear for the second half.
 A first West Brom goal for Shelton Martis gave his side a first-half lead |
The Baggies might have put the match beyond their opponents shortly after the restart but Krul - on for the injured Harper - made a superb save low to his left to thwart Robert Koren.
Duff's crisp first-time finish after a neat lay off from Kevin Nolan levelled the scores with Newcastle's first decent real opening of the half, but the Magpies should not have remained on level terms for long.
Krul made another decent one-handed save to again deny Koren but Chris Wood smashed the rebound high and wide.
Newcastle's substitute keeper continued to impress, denying Moore after the Baggies st! riker turned Fabricio Coloccini inside and out to create the o! pening.
Krul was less certain when coming for crosses but he made a brilliant fingertip stop from Dorrans as the Baggies pushed for a winner.
Kevin Nolan could have snatched an unlikely win for the Tynesiders but put his header high and wide when picked out unmarked in the box.
Newcastle's own weakness against set pieces almost cost them when Olsson headed home late on but the offside flag ensured the points were shared.
West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo:
"I'm disappointed about the result because we had plenty of chances.
"Their goalkeeper made some fine saves, but the performance was quite good.
"We are creating chances, we are quite solid at the back as well. We were a bit late when we conceded the goal, but I thought that going forward we created enough chances to win the game.
"Credit to Newcastle, you look at their team sheet and there are a lot of international players there. It wasn't an easy game but I thou! ght we did well."
Newcastle caretaker manager Chris Hughton:
"We got what we deserved today. To come here against a very good side, a side I'm sure will do very well in this division, and to get a draw on the opening day is credit to this group of lads.
"We went 1-0 down but I think we showed a lot of character to come back. I thought we deserved the goal, I thought some of our football at times was good and it was certainly an entertaining game to be sure."
