Souness comes out fighting

Newcastle boss Graeme Souness was in defiant mood after seeing his side escape a fourth successive defeat when Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry missed a late penalty.

The game had been billed as a make-or-break affair for the Scot following Wednesday night's abject display in the Carling Cup at Wigan, but although the Magpies were 15 minutes away from victory through skipper Alan Shearer's 32nd-minute penalty - his 198th strike for his home-town club - Gavin McCann's equaliser paved the way for a dramatic finish.

Had Barry not cleared the bar with his 87th-minute spot-kick, the knives might have been out for Souness once again, but although there was a small chorus of boos on the final whistle and a minor demonstration by a handful of fans afterwards, he was refusing to be bowed.

"I know nothing about that, so I cannot comment on it," he said. "I'm a football person, I understand last Wednesday at Wigan, we didn't perform in any shape or form, and I can understand the feelings of our supporters.

"I was angry and disappointed, but today, I'm far happier because the team had a real go. If you are a paying supporter, surely you realise you cannot win every game you are involved in, but the least you can hope for from your team is to give you 100%, and we got that today."

Asked how tough a week it has been for him, Souness replied: "It's not enjoyable, but it's not tough.

"None of you know me, only people close to me know me, and it's not been tough. There are far bigger things I worry about in life than football.

"Several times a week, people come to our training ground who are far less fortunate than ourselves - that's the reality of our situation.

"I know if we had won today and won the next four games and then lost two, you would be writing the same things about me then. That's the price on the ticket here at Newcastle."

However, defender Titus Bramble, who conceded the late penalty with a needless challenge on Milan Baros, can expect a dressing-down on Monday morning.

"I have to say Titus has to have a close look at himself," Souness said. "Why he's gone to make that challenge at that time - I will be asking him about that on Monday."

Villa boss David O'Leary was a disappointed man, but happy with his side's display, and had sympathy for Barry.

"I don't think we deserved to be losing at half-time, but it was important at half-time to keep the lads' spirits up," he said. "I felt we had to keep going, playing, taking the game to them.

"We scored a good goal - I wanted us to go on and win the game and I thought we would, I thought we should have. Probably in my opinion, the best player for us, at least, missed the penalty."