Newcastle hold wasteful City

Under-fire referee Graham Poll denied Manchester City a deserved win in their goalless draw against Newcastle when he ruled out a Georgios Samaras header midway through the second half.

Poll spotted a Bernardo Corradi foul on Stephen Carr at the corner, which led to Samaras' close-range header for the home side.

It was hard on the Blues - for whom Joey Barton and Corradi saw decent efforts saved by Steve Harper - with Newcastle doing little until a late rally which might easily have brought them a win.

The result does little to ease the pressure on Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder, whose side have now gone eight games without a win and look set for a long winter battle to pull themselves clear of trouble.

In a dreadful first half Barton did force one good save out of Steve Harper when he let fly with a volley that was heading in until the Magpies keeper turned it away.

Earlier, Hatem Trabelsi cushioned an excellent header into his path, Barton controlled it with his chest, drove into the box but then stroked a shot beyond the far post.

Newcastle's only opportunity of note fell to defender Peter Ramage, who hooked a volley over.

Harper was again the hero when Barton split the Newcastle offside trap and found Paul Dickov inside the Magpies box, only for the Scotland international to see his side-footed effort turned away.

Then the unmarked Corradi met Barton's free-kick with a firm diving header, which failed to test Harper, before nodding just wide and having a flick blocked by Harper.

However, City were thankful a late Newcastle rally did not see them fly off with the points as Kieron Dyer and Antoine Sibierski both went close.