By Ryan Ghee
February 12 2006

Aston Villa left St James' Park with only one point to show for their efforts after Gareth Barry blasted his late penalty over the Newcastle crossbar and denied Villa a precious third straight league win in a row. In the so-called 'Battle of the Managers', Alan Shearer eased some of the pressure on Graeme Souness when he converted a 32nd minute penalty to give the Magpies the lead.

However, Gavin McCann hit back for Villa in style with 15 minutes remaining, before Gareth Barry proved to be the villain of the piece as he robbed his own team of a valuable victory by failing to hold his nerve and consequently blasting his late penalty high into the stands.

With both teams bowing out of the Carling Cup in midweek, this Premiership match was seen as a must-win game for each side. Also, the fact that both managers are under intense pressure from their own fans also added extra tension to this match as it was widely reported that the loser would face the chop.

As expected, both sets of players showed signs of nerves in the opening exchanges with the game being played wholly in the middle of the park with chances proving to be few and far between for both sides.

In fact, the first real opening of the game didn't arrive until the 27th minute when Newcastle's Shola Ameobi showed great control before curling his effort inches wide of Sorensen's far post.

With the crowd starting to get behind Souness' men, they started to push forward and with Villa looking typically edgy at the back, Liam Ridgewell conceded his fourth penalty in five games as he blocked Scott Parker's powerful effort with his arm.

Alan Shearer, desperate to break Jackie Milburn's record of 200 goals for the club, converted the spot-kick to notch his 198th goal for the club; just two short of equalling the exceptional record.

With the players fully knowing that a defeat could spell the end for the unenthusiastic David O'Leary, Villa looked for a quick reply but Lee Hendrie's powerful free-kick flew agonisingly wide of Shay Given's upright just a minute after the home side had taken the lead.

With the visitors taking the initiative for the first time in the match, Milan Baros
then fed the ball to Lee Hendrie who took a dive when challenged by Boumsong, only to earn himself a booking for simulation.

With the future starting to look bleak for David O'Leary, Villa came out in the
second half with a lot more intent but it was the hosts who had the first chance of the second period as Alan Shearer's sweetly struck volley smashed against the crossbar before flying to safety.

After yet another wake-up call, Aston Villa finally started to search for an equaliser and, with the tension building, Gareth Barry forced an acrobatic save from Given as he attempted to hook the ball in from Villa's first corner of the afternoon.

However, 15 minutes later, Shay Given became a spectator as he could only watch as Gavin McCann's 25-yard screamer flew into the back of the net.

Gareth Barry found the midfielder with a neat pass before McCann unleashed an unstoppable effort to score his first goal of the season and, more importantly, to get Villa back onto level terms.

With both managers desperate for their players to push on and grab a vital winning goal, the match finally started to open up and with just minutes remaining, Milan Baros was bundled over by Titus Bramble and Villa had the chance to record their third consecutive Premiership victory for the first time in over a year.

However, Gareth Barry, who spoke in the week of his pride at being linked with a move to St James' Park, stepped up and blasted the ball over the bar and into the stand behind the goal.

So, with the 'Battle of the Managers' ending all square, it is hard to see either Doug Ellis or Freddy Shepherd calling a premature end to their managers' stay.

However, in the untypical fashion of all Villa fans, why don't we look on the bright side. Yes, Barry did miss a last minute penalty which would have handed us a much-needed victory, and yes, we are all still feeling the pain from the humiliating drubbing from Doncaster Rovers; but two wins and a draw from our last three Premiership matches is definately a positive sign and one which could be the beginning of a rare unbeaten run in the league.