It was a case of new season, old problems for Newcastle at Gallowgate on Saturday, as they subjected their supporters to a fourth successive home scoring blank.

However Alan Pardew's 100th Premier League game in charge of the club almost ended on a high note, with Sammy Ameobi's 92nd minute effort striking the inside of the post - only for Yoan Gouffran to somehow scoop the rebound over the crossbar from within the six yard box. 

That ended a frustrating afternoon for a Magpies side missing Yohan Cabaye for the second game (apparently having again downed tools in his quest to leave) and looking desperately lacking in both confidence and ideas in the first half.

Leaden skies over Tyneside contributed to an almost funereal atmosphere and it was 35 minutes before Hatem Ben Arfa and Papiss Cisse linked up to lift proceedings above the lifeless, Moussa Sissoko shooting over.

A front pairing of Cisse and Shola Ameobi were starved of possession and service, with desperately slow build-up meaning that the attacks were bogged down in midfield.

Things improved after the break as Newcastle moved up a gear and began to press West Ham back into the final third of the pitch, starting to move the ball around with a little more vigour on a surface made slicker by the rain. 

Visiting 'keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was as under-employed as his opposite number Tim Krul though, with one glaring miss from Kevin Nolan on the hour seeing the unmarked former Magpie heading a Stewart Downing cross wide of the Leazes End goal.

An off the ball collision between Cisse and Winston Reid left both players laid out on the pitch amid concerns over whether the former had been injured. Our number 9 did recover and continue, but was replaced not long after.

Having allowed Adam Campbell to leave the club on loan, United's striking cover on the bench was Yoan Gouffran and Haris Vuckic - the Slovenian finally back to fitness but waiting to see whether projected squad additions in the coming days allow him to be loaned to a Football League side. 

Gouffran it was who came on for Cisse, while Sammy Ameobi replaced the unimpressive Sylvain Marveaux and began to find some room to manoeuvre down the left.

We ended the game ruing the ill-fortune of the two substitutes, but grateful to a linesman's offside flag for ruling out an 89th minute effort from Modibo Maiga.

A point represents progress from Monday's mauling and is a step up from the 0-1 defeat to these lot here last season, but victory today would have done much to dispel the gloom that continues to hang over a club where one has to look long and hard to find a shred of optimism. 

Set pieces were again wasted and our continued inability to hit the target meant that a draw and a clean sheet were the most Newcastle could have expected today. Perhaps most concerning of all though was the fact they routinely looked like a team coming to the end of a long hard season, not embarking on a fresh one.
 
Sam Allardyce's side hope to welcome their star striker Andy Carroll back shortly, but his old club remain badly in need of forward reinforcements before the transfer window closes in a week.