United Manager Chris Hughton said:

“It was a tough game – it was a great example of men playing football the way they should do. There were some hefty challenges. You want the referee to control that, but you also want your own players to dust themselves down and get back up, and we’ve got enough men in the team to be able to do that.

"You certainly never enjoy the game as much as the supporters, and especially the neutrals.When you've got a support like ours, they want to see us winning. The game was certainly entertaining enough to lift everybody. Sky were the winners, because they were able to serve up a very exciting game for the neutral.

"It could have gone either way, but overall, I think it was a fair result. They had their moments, and they're a very good side. They've only lost once away from home. They've got a lot of good quality, and you can see why.

"I think it was because of the way the game was – it became very open. When it becomes that way, there's an excitement that you can win, but also a fear you can lose. You get to a stage in the game where it becomes very tough. What's the greater? The fear of losing, or the benefit of winning?

"The only benefit of the draw is that we haven't lost. It's three points that West Brom didn't get, and it keeps the gap the same. Forest are probably the big winners.

"The Andy Carroll one was a blatant penalty. We’ve seen it again, and he makes no attempt to get the ball. It was one of those where, if the referee saw it again, I couldn’t imagine he wouldn’t have agreed it was a blatant penalty.”

On Lovenkrands, who played despite the death of his father and scored:

"I think Peter deserved it. We've got a very close and tight-knit group, and he's part of that group.

"He wanted to play for obvious reasons. He wanted to play for his father, because that's what he'd have wanted. We're really delighted that he got the equaliser.

"It shows great qualities from him as an individual. It was a very difficult time. His father was very proud of him and I think he felt his father would have liked him to play. His father wasn't a particularly old man and it was a very difficult time for him."

Peter Lovenkrands said:

“It was a difficult decision to play, but one that I wanted to make for my father who was a big football fan. I'd like to dedicate that goal to him."

After a succession of routine home fixtures this season, this was the real deal - a genuinely competitive  match between two committed teams. Just like times past, in that "other" league we used to inhabit.

Albion had come here to do a job and unlike many other sides, were never going to be impressed by the architecture - although quite what distracted Miller from the easiest of finishes late on remains a mystery.

Behind twice, United showed admirable spirit to take a point from the game and both sides then had chances to win it. Unlike the visitors, the home side also had a couple of justifiable penalty shouts turned down. 

However, the return of "proper football" to Gallowgate for one night only brought with it memories of last season's struggles and also provided a depressing reminder of what may face us next season. 

From the off, West Brom showed speed and creativity in midfield to find space, leaving our lot looking leaden-footed and although their red change shirts are a different hue to those worn by certain sides from the North West, a slight feeling of helplessness was unpleasantly familiar.

While Gutierrez looked in the mood for the game (although again misfiring at crucial times), Smith and Nolan showed an embarrassing lack of pace, with the former reverting to type and getting wound up, while the latter made minimal impact throughout. He stayed on though, with the equally sloth-like Butt on the bench.  

And where the visitors played a smooth passing game, Newcastle by contrast were rather less refined and often incapable of retaining possession. Albion also looked to have done their homework and looked to run at Simpson whenever possible, giving the on-loan defender a difficult game on the last night of his loan spell. Similarly Taylor never looked particularly comfortable and seemed to be struggling early on, suggesting that he wasn't 100% fit to play. 

With the Tyneside fog spilling over the East Stand roof and starting to descend on the pitch, it looked like a case of lost in the mist when Albion regained the lead while we were still mentally in the dressing room. At that point an equaliser hardly seemed likely, but Lovenkrands quickly made it an emotional and memorable night for himself with a potentially priceless goal. 

Other than that though he unsurprisingly wasn't at his best and wasn't blessed with much in the way of support from Ameobi, whose first three attempts to win possession resulted in soft free kick awards. To these eyes, the arrival of Carroll came far too late, while the fresh legs of Ranger could also have deterred Albion from pushing up into midfield as often. 

Despite the late disappointment that a Gutierrez forward run couldn't deliver the ball to the onrushing Carroll, this was still a valuable point that preserved our six point lead over the Baggies. But, they needed the win more than us and didn't get it, despite their attractive pattern of play. 

In a game when Chris Hughton fielded his strongest XI and a fair few of his players endured off nights, the team pulled through and maintained their unbeaten record. That's worthy of praise in itself. 

The form team in this league currently are Forest, whose manager Billy Davies watched this first-hand as a SkySports pundit. His side benefited from the draw and now lie three points behind Newcastle. And although we have a game in hand on them, it's at our unfavourite destination of Reading, hardly a gimme.

Games like this don't come along very often in seasons like this and only the still-to-come visit of Forest to Gallowgate promises to be of similar onfield intensity. That's not to say that there won't be banana skins along the way of the Scunthorpe variety, but promotion will be achieved by routine victories over routine sides. Smith, Nolan and the rest need to earn their money between now and May to achieve that.

However as a preview of life in the top flight this was a useful - if sobering - reminder of how far we've fallen and how much turnover is required in this squad if we're not to become the Premier League whipping boys next season. We're not a good team, we're a good Championship team.

PS: At this point exactly thirty years ago, we were top of Division Two and apparently en route back to the "big time". We ended the season in ninth position - partly due to the failure of the club to replace injured players and invest in improving the squad. Having experienced that, we're at pains to wipe out any cockiness or complacency from our writing. Take nothing for granted.

Biffa

Re: The It's a Knockout / NUFC link - the referee at Wembley Stadium for our 1952 FA Cup Final success was Arthur Ellis aka Uncle Arthur the It's a Knockout judge (often seen measuring amounts of luridly-coloured liquid during the "mini marathon" with his trusty "dipstick" - which had actually no measurements on it.)