The 21-year-old, who is on loan at the Reebok Stadium from Chelsea, fired the equaliser after 38 minutes at St James' Park to further enhance his blossoming reputation.

Coyle has been delighted with Sturridge's contribution since his arrival last month, and is hopeful of reaping the same kind of benefits he received from Arsenal midfielder Wilshere last season.

He said: "There's no doubt he is a natural goalscorer, but he is more than that, he is a natural footballer.

"He can finish left-foot, right-foot, he can score headed goals as well, but he has got pace to burn, he is a clever football and the great thing I love about him is he is exciting.

"I love football, I want to come and be entertained and when he gets the ball, everybody in the stadium thinks something exciting might happen.

"That's the type of player we want in the Barclays Premier League.

"I have seen him for a number of years and I did everything in my power to bring him to the football club, knowing the impact he could have.

"Daniel is going to continue to get better. Hopefully, we can help, we can hopefully impart some knowledge, experience, whatever you want to call it.

"But the biggest player in all this will be Daniel, because he is the one who has to go and deliver on it when he crosses the white line, and he has certainly started in the right fashion.

"Jack Wilshere has taken his game to another level now, and I have got no doubts Daniel can - that's why I brought him to the football club, because I believed he was that special.

"I have said to him in there, 'Don't be happy just to score one a game, get your goal and then go and be hungry to get the second one', which he is because he is such a natural goalscorer and a finisher."

Sturridge's strike cancelled out Kevin Nolan's 13th-minute opener against his former club, the midfielder's 11th goal of the season, but was only enough to secure a point despite Ryan Taylor's 54th-minute sending-off.

In an enterprising start by both sides, it was Newcastle who took the lead when Nolan headed firmly home from Cheick Tiote's left-wing cross.

Leon Best twice went close to extending the lead as the visitors struggled to regroup, but they did so and were level seven minutes before the break, thanks to Sturridge.

He accepted Johan Elmander's pass and shifted the ball on to his left foot before drilling a low shot past Steve Harper.

Both sides returned after the break knowing the points were there for the taking, but the Magpies' hopes were all but over when Taylor - a late replacement for Joey Barton, who was injured during the warm-up - was sent off for a two-footed lunge at Elmander.

But although the visitors launched a concerted assault, it was their hosts who thought they had snatched victory at the death when substitute Nile Ranger headed home, but from an offside position.

Coyle said: "If you had offered a point before the game, I think we would have seen that as a very good point, and I don't see why at the end of the game, that changes, excepting that we could have won the game."

Opposite number Alan Pardew was also happy enough with a point which eased the Magpies closer to Barclays Premier League safety, and defended Taylor over his rash tackle.

He said: "I have seen it again and he went in a little bit over-zealously. I didn't think it was high, if I am honest, but he was late.

"With that type of take-off, you are going to be sent off in today's age. Go back 10 years and the boy ain't getting sent off - he might not even get a booking."