"We were never comfortable defensively and we looked vulnerable at times. But it was just one of those nights and it had nothing to do with young Steven (Taylor) being away (with England U21s)

"However their first goal had to be five yards offside. The scorer Simon Johnson was the only player inside our half when he got the ball and he had to be offside and his second goal was also suspiciously offside.

"We were the best team in the first half and they were better than us after the break, so I suppose a draw was a fair result."

Newcastle's Premier Reserve side stretched their unbeaten start to 2004 after an entertaining draw at Belle Vue on Tuesday.
                                
However after recovering from conceding an early goal to have taken the lead just after the half hour, the comparatively inexperienced Magpies couldn't hold out after late pressure from the home side brought an equaliser.   
      
A second goal of the evening for Leeds striker Simon Johnson only eight minutes from time cancelled out Lewis Guy's first-half double.
                                  
However, both of Johnson's goals had a touch of controversy surrounding them.

The opener saw Johnson seize on to a through pass touched on by Armstrong down the Leeds left to gallop away and round Caig in the toon goal, amid fervent claims by coach Tommy Craig for an offside.
               
And fellow Scot Brian Kerr looked to have spotted further shoddy work by the officials during the move that brought about the late equaliser, the nearside linesman raising his flag as substitute Jones took possession from Lennon in the Newcastle area.

That flag though had disappeared when Johnson shot home a split second later, denying Newcastle a double over Leeds and meaning that our second visit to Wakefield in as many seasons again ended in deadlock.

Both goalscorers could well have claimed hat tricks, with Johnson denied by Caig after his opener and putting a great opportunity past the post shortly after the interval.

Lewis Guy meanwhile netted with our first serious attack, after Alan O'Brien's run down the left was stopped by 'keeper Allaway's charge out of his box.

Down went both players, but O'Brien had just managed to touch the ball to Guy, who planted it into the empty net. O'Brien recovered quickly (although he played little part thereafter) but Allaway was helped off the field before the restart with his self-inflicting injury.

Guy's second goal began with a timely intervention by Gate to clear Johnson's goalbound effort just after the half hour mark. And when the ball was played forward, Carl Finnigan found space on the left hand side of the box to place a pinpoint centre on the head of Guy, whose well-directed effort beat sub 'keeper Coyles.

The England striker almost won it for Newcastle with just three minutes remaining, but after nipping in to exploit a poor defensive header could only blast his shot against the 'keeper's body.

A draw was probably a fair result overall, as the pace and movement of the Leeds attack kept Newcastle's defence busy all night, Chris Carr in particular fortunate to escape after appearing to foul Johnson when last man back, towards the end of the first half.