24 mins Davide Santon made progress down the United left and was eventually crowded out by a pair of defenders at the expense of a corner. Romain Amalfitano's flag kick was knocked on by Roy Carroll and although Dan Gosling knocked it goalbound, a defender was first to react.

However a weak flicked clearance dropped straight to the lurking Gabriel Obertan and he deflected it into the path of Steven Taylor, who shot goalwards from six yards and saw his effort end up in the back of the net after glancing off Papazoglou. 1-0.

Half time: Newcastle 1 Olympiakos 0

79 mins d in the 79th minute when a run down the left from Abdoun saw the ball pulled back for Kostas Mitroglu to whack home from the edge of the area - fitting punishment for an increasingly ragged toon display. 1-1.

Full time: Newcastle 1 Olympiakos 1

The shootout:

Abdoun scored 0-1
Cisse missed 0-1
Maniatis scored 0-2
Vuckic scored 1-2
Pantelic scored 1-3
Amalfitano scored 2-3
Holebas scored 2-4
Perch scored 3-4
Tatos saved 3-4
Abeid scored 4-4

Nobody wins!

Leonardo Jardim kept his thoughts to himself

United managed to add a bizarre footnote in their history at the Estadio Algarve on Friday night, contriving to end up honours even with their Greek foes, despite a penalty shootout!

The opening game of the XII Trofeo Guadiana between Olympiakos and Braga had ended 1-1 on Thursday night and despite tournament rules stating that spot kicks would decide a winner, the shootout was locked at 4-4 when the match referee called a halt to proceedings.

Fast forward 24 hours and the Greeks faced United in the second game of the tournament - which was to end in an identically farcical manner, adding another chapter to a set of friendlies which are now firmly in the twilight zone.

Things began well for Newcastle, with Alan Pardew making it from Thursday's Milk Cup Final loss in Northern Ireland to Faro for game #4 (and country #3) of our pre-season perambulations.

Shola Ameobi went close with a ninth minute header before Steven Taylor notched a comeback strike on his first appearance of 2012 after recovering from a ruptured Achilles. However, United were less than impressive as a forward unit and were forced into a change just after the half hour.

A free-kick in a central area was fired in at Tim Krul who saved uncomfortably with his legs and in clearing the ball Gosling pulled up with what looked like a hip problem - continuing briefly before making way for Mehdi Abeid.

The Greeks may possess a fragile economy, but their tackling tonight was at full throttle and they had already registered one booking when Shola Ameobi was blatantly fouled off the ball as he tried to join in an attack.

Staying down for treatment - although he rightly refused to leave the field when an electric medical cart drove on to the field - United's captain was then yellow-carded by the erratic referee for querying the lack of a free kick.

As expected, goalscorer Taylor was replaced at half-time by Paul Dummett (in at senior level for the first time since pre-season 12 months ago) and Haris Vuckic was in the thick of things at the start of the second half when he tangled with an opposition player who went in with a high foot - both players subsequently booked for some low-key jousting.

After a quiet opening fifteen minutes, things started to liven up when Krul was forced into another save and then two substitutions saw Papiss Cisse and Sammy Ameobi take to the field while his brother departed along with Obertan - once again profligate and frustrating in equal measure.

What proved to be a decisive decision then came with 17 minutes to play, as Francois Modesto received his second yellow card and Olympiakos were reduced to ten men after a late challenge left Romain Amalfitano on the floor.

Unhappy with the decision and sauntering from the field, the Greek captain then ignored the request of the fourth official to vacate the bench and only departed down the tunnel when the referee stopped play and refused to restart until Modesto exited to the dressing room.

While a becalmed Newcastle proved unable to raise themselves, the Greek Champions though began to pose far of a threat and move the ball around to better effect. That lent a touch of inevitability to an eventual equaliser that was fitting punishment for an increasingly ragged toon display.

Stung by conceding and with the prospect of a spot kick shootout now looming, United almost regained the lead two minutes later through Cisse. His header from Amalfitano's cross was well saved and the number 9 then he hit the post with the follow-up before Amalfitano then found the side-netting from a tight angle, although by then the linesman had raised an offside flag.

Barring a couple of late runs down the United right from Sammy Ameobi that promised much but delivered much save for one half-chance for Cisse to shoot, the match then ended and proceeded straight to penalties.

It soon became apparent that the only one of our designated spot kick takers we'd ever seen score (or even take one) was goalkeeper Tim Krul - in the FA Youth Cup back in his Academy days.

First up was Cisse, but his casual approach hardly bred confidence and sure enough, he wellied the ball way over the goal and into the empty seating deck behind. 

The Greeks then proceeded to tuck all of their first four efforts, but United kept pace with them thanks to decent finishes from messrs Vuckic, Amalfitano and Perch - the latter of whom retained his composure to convert after the referee had pulled him up in mid-take, when Krul encroached.

Having failed to get near the previous four spot kicks he'd faced, the Newcastle 'keeper then did well to deny Andreas Tatos, before Abeid stepped up to coolly tuck away his effort and leave the game drawn at 1-1 and 4-4.

Notwithstanding the non-adherence to the rules of the tournament ("kicks from the penalty mark will continue until the winner is determined" meaning that it didn't create a match winner, the penalty shootout becomes significant if points, goals scored, goals conceded or head to head results don't achieve a competition winner on Friday ie if NUFC v Braga ends 1-1.

At that point, the kicks converted in the two previous unresolved penalty shootouts come into play (along with the one which would be staged between NUFC and Braga) - with each successful spot kick earning a point. 

And as an added precaution, Alan Pardew may wish to excuse 37 year-old Steve Harper from duty v Braga, given yet another bizarre regulation separated the teams in the event of a tie by calculating the mean age of the participating players and giving the winners trophy to the youngest! 

Is it too late to get Freddie Woodman on a flight? 

Biffa