Stamford Bridged! Chelsea 2-2 Newcastle.

Newcastle snatched a point at the death against Chelsea this afternoon to take a well deserved draw away from the home of the former champions.

Steven Taylor scored his second headed goal in two games deep into stoppage time to upset the odds and leave Newcastle with a very real chance of finishing in the top ten when the season draws to a close next week. To do that we'll have to beat West Brom next week at St James' Park, but that is for us to talk about later. Right now I'll stick to this game.

The bookies had Chelsea as overwhelming favourites to take three points from the match. Even the most optimistic NUFC fan will have been hard pushed to see us taking anything from the match given our rather long injury list. Still this is football, and there is always hope I guess.

That hope took a huge dent just two minutes into the match though when Branislav Ivanovic turned a Fernando Torres flick-on into the back of the net to give the home side the lead. When that goal when in I must admit I feared the worst and felt that we could have ended up on the end of a thumping.

However, this makeshift Newcastle side regained their composure and managed to get a foothold in the game. In fact they even levelled the scores on 10 minutes when Jonas Gutierrez deflected a rather wild and wayward Ryan Taylor free kick goalwards beyond a wrong-footed Petr Cech. 1-1.

Things settled down after that aside from the odd spikey challenge. If anything it was Newcastle who just shaded it and arguably had the better chances through Peter Lovenkrands and Shola Ameobi. Shane Ferguson was impressive, as was Jonas Gutierrez who was employed in a central midfield attacking role. Being fair to everyone though, it was a team effort that ensured the two sides went in at half-time all square.

It was Chelsea who created the bulk of the chances in the second half. Ashley Cole had a header deflected wide whilst Ramires flashed a 25-yard shot a foot wide of the goal. Newcastle had their own chances though, with Jonas Gutierrez having a couple of efforts comfortably saved by Cech.

This prompted a recall of the big guns for Chelsea as Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda and Michael Essien all entered the fray from the bench, but whilst the introduction of three of Chelsea's stars did improve their performance the away side held firm and looked calm, collected and, most importantly, committed.

That was until the 83rd minute when Jose Enrique lashed out at a Chelsea player and conceded a free-kick on the right-wing. Frank Lampard duly delivered the ball on the head of Alex who headed the ball home to give the home side the lead. Tim Krul, who had been having a good game, was to blame for the goal as he tried to claim the cross but ended up flapping at it instead. You could see by his reaction that he knew he done wrong so as long as he learns from it he'll be fine.

It could have easily been game over at that point, but to their credit Newcastle tried to get an equaliser. Kazenga Lua Lua crossed into the box only for Ryan Taylor to see his volley deflected wide. Shortly after that, the other Taylor did get the equaliser when he nodded Nile Ranger's header back across goal into the back of the net with virtually the last kick of the game.

Today was full of positives for me. Shane Ferguson was exceptional and showed more glimpses of his talent before he withdrew with injury. Steven Taylor showed glimpses of what could be if he keeps his head screwed on, Joey Barton, Jose Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez were all outstanding and we even got to see some good touches from Sammy Ameobi and Kazenga Lua Lua after they were brought on.

The biggest positive for me today though was the way that Newcastle played. At times we played some fantastic stuff and defended solidly. All of that was born out of hard work and commitment. These lads may not be the household names of the past, but today they gave their all. That is all we can ever ask.

Howay the lads!

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic ,Alex, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Josh McEachran, Yossi Benayoun, Nicolas Anelka, Fernando Torres.

Subs: Ross Turnbull, David Luiz, Essien, Didier Drogba, John Obi Mikel, Florent Malouda, Paulo Ferreira.

Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Jonas Gutierrez, Ryan Taylor, Joey Barton, Shane Ferguson, Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands.

Subs: Ole Soderberg, James Tavernier, Alan Smith, Kazenga LuaLua, Sammy Ameobi, Shefki Kuqi, Nile Ranger.

Referee: Lee Mason.

Attendance: 41,739.