Manchester City looked to be cruising to victory when Habib Beye was harshly sent off for a 12th-minute challenge on Robinho, who calmly converted the resulting penalty.

But Joe Kinnear's men once again discovered the character which had served them so well at Everton last time out and, remarkably, they were within four minutes of victory when Ireland struck.

Shola Ameobi, with his first Premier League goal since October 15, 2006, had earlier cancelled out Robinho's opener, and when City skipper Richard Dunne sliced a Geremi corner into his own net, three points were within the Magpies' grasp.

However, Ireland rescued a draw for his side, and might even have won it had it not been for a superb late save from Shay Given and another effort which flew agonisingly past the far post.

But Newcastle were good value for a point which sends them into Saturday's derby trip to Sunderland with confidence on the rise and the appreciation of the bulk of a crowd of 45,908, who applauded them warmly from the pitch at the end of an intriguing 90 minutes.

Kinnear knew he had taken on a major challenge when he accepted the job no-one else wanted, and having spent his life in the game, was surely aware of the old adage about luck deserting teams when they are down.

However, he could not have known just how hard that would hit home.

The 61-year-old inherited a depressing injury list and was devastated to see leading scorer Michael Owen join it with a groin problem last week.

But fate was to serve up an even more cruel twist within 12 minutes of him taking his seat in the dug-out for the first time.

Beye had earlier handed his manager a boost by recovering from the Achilles injury which had sidelined him since the end of August, but his return was to end prematurely and in controversial circumstances.

Robinho looked to have got the better of the Senegal international as he burst into the box, but the defender dived in to poke the ball away.

However, to his horror, referee Rob Styles pointed to the spot and to compound Beye's astonishment, then produced a red card despite replays suggesting he had a good case.

Goalkeeper Shay Given pleaded with Styles to consult his assistant, who had not flagged for the incident, but he was having none of it and the distraught defender had to go.

Robinho calmly converted from 12 yards, sending the keeper the wrong way and leaving a club without a league win since August 23 with a mountain to climb.

It could have been worse with Jo only just failing to covert a deflected Robinho shot and former Magpie Dietmar Hamann heading a Javier Garrido corner inches over with the Magpies at sixes and sevens.

But as they did at Everton a fortnight ago, Kinnear's men found a fighting spirit in adversity and managed to drag themselves back into the game.

They could have been level 10 minutes before the break when Obafemi Martins and Ameobi combined to set up Damien Duff, although his shot was saved easily by Joe Hart.

However, the equaliser did arrive nine minutes later when Dunne smashed a clearance against the unwitting Duff and when the ball ricocheted to Ameobi, he controlled and managed to steer it past the keeper to repay Kinnear's faith in him.

Both Sebastien Bassong and Martins were guilty of handing City possession deep in enemy territory within seconds of the restart, but Ireland was unable to make the most of a promising opening.

But for all City once again dominated possession, Newcastle repeatedly threatened on the break with Duff and Martins, who had adapted well to the role of left-sided midfielder after a shaky start following the reorganisation caused by Beye's departure, keeping City on their toes.

Ameobi too was proving a handful for Dunne to give the home crowd genuine hope that there was more to come.

Their prayers were answered with 64 minutes gone when, in his attempt to clear Geremi's right-wing corner, Dunne smashed the ball into the roof of his own net to send St James' into raptures.

But the job was far from complete and Steven Taylor was relieved to see a shot from substitute Ched Evans loop up off him and clear the bar, with Jo doing the same with the header from the resulting corner.

Given produced a stunning save to deny Ireland six minutes from time, but he could not repeat the feat two minutes later as the midfielder fired home from close range to claim a point.