United Manager Chris Hughton said:

"It was exactly the kind of response I wanted. It was the only response we could give after the Bolton game. It is not like us to concede the kind of goals we did in that game. What you want is a response from every single player that is playing or plays a part.

"As for the game, it was every bit as tough as I thought it would be. Every time they attack with pace you’re fearful but the moments we had to defend well, we defended well. And we were a goal threat ourselves when we needed to be.

"I thought Steven (Taylor) and Sol (Campbell) were part of a team that was outstanding defensively. I think you had to be against the players they were up against. Steven had not played since January, Sol had featured only twice this season so for both of them to get through a game as difficult as the Chelsea one, it was testament to both of their characters.

"Andy (Carroll) is not somebody that plays with fear. I don’t think he’s fearful of any opposition or individuals. When you’re in a confident mood and you’re scoring goals then that’s how it should be. You should look forward to every game – you should think of every game as an opportunity to play well and score. That’s how he is at this moment.

"Andy will have to get used to teams changing their formation and systems but he has adapted his game. Going back to the Championship, he went up against battle-hardened Championship centre-halves who occasionally got the better of him.

"His movement across defenders has improved, though, as his general movement. He realises now he’s up against better players and to get the better of them his movement has got to be better.

"Unfortunately for Kevin (Nolan) he’s been carrying this ankle problem for a while now. He’s a really tough character – he’s been playing through it but he’s at a stage now where it’s come to a head. He’ll have an injection in it on Monday and will miss the weekend game but hopefully he’ll be fit after that.

"At half time, would we have taken a draw? Probably yes. When a team score a goal a minute before half time, you know they've got the ascendancy. You know the quality they've got. We had to dig really deep for this one, I must admit. They're such a good side, with such quality. On the balance of play over 90 minutes, we had our moments and chances. I don't think they had more chances than what we did. It was a fair result.

"What is important is that the players appreciate what we have here. We're on the back of six inches of snow. It was difficult for everybody to get here, and they were outstanding. They really got behind the team, and the team will continue to appreciate what we have here.

"Wayne Routledge hasn't figured of late, but one thing you know you've got with Wayne is a fit lad. Players will always have problems with getting up to speed having been out for a while, but if they haven't got the games, they get the fitness in general training and reserve games.

"It's difficult to get them in at that level, but Wayne's a very fit lad, and I thought in the distances he covered, you wouldn't have thought he'd been out of things.

"I think they all stake a claim - that's one thing we're always telling players – they're going to go through disappointments, and periods where they're not playing, but they have to keep motivated. One thing is for sure, that at some stage they will be playing. They've got to be prepared for it."

Shola Ameobi said:

"It's a little annoying our best performances keep coming against the best teams, and then we drop points against the others. When we play the top teams, I think we're naturally a bit more cautious. We have a good shape and we limit them to a few chances.

"We are a lot more solid and we don't let them play, but we have to take that into every single game. When we have played a team we feel we should be beating, we've been a little bit too gung ho and left ourselves open at the back. It's about getting that balance right. We are still finding our feet back in the Premier League and we're not quite there yet. We're learning from these experiences, but we have to take that forward.

"It was a good point in the circumstances. We had to take the pain of Bolton. You can't just forget about something like that and brush it under the carpet like it didn't happen. It hurt and it wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that we closed that game down as a team. It was vitally important for us that we did that. We had to learn from the mistakes and then we had to focus on putting it right.

"It felt good to get that sort of point against a team as good as Chelsea's after the result the previous weekend. We needed a big performance from everyone, they are they reigning champions and it was never going to be an easy game. We had to be at our best, we had to dig in at times and I thought we were brilliant at doing that. This team has the right attitude and it does the right thing after a setback. We've got some great characters in the dressing room who want to do well, want to win and want to succeed."

Steven Taylor:

It was an unbelievable feeling to be back playing after 10 months. The nerves were kicking in before the game – it was a massive game for us – but once I was out there and warming up, the nerves went.

"When the whistle went, I was straight back into it. I won my first header against Drogba, and felt good. We could have won the game, but in many ways, it couldn't have gone better. We came through it with no injuries, and got a great point. The lads were fantastic and w were unlucky not to score a second goal. We had chances, and they had chances.

"I thought we started well. They didn't expect us to start at the tempo we did, we were right in their faces. Maybe they expected us to sit back and defend, but that wasn't happening. We rattled them. We pressed in midfield, and forced errors from their back four. We came out for the second half, and were on top. The end of the game was a bit open, and Nile (Ranger) came on and had a couple of chances.

"I got a chance to play with Sol at the back – who I'd played with in a reserve game against Manchester City – and it was an unbelievable feeling. I enjoyed having him talking to me all the game – he's been there and done it. I can learn from him – he's fantastic. We're in the team now, and hopefully we'll get another chance to play at West Brom. We've just got to take it game by game.

Sol Campbell:

"It’s always nice to come back at home, whenever it comes you’ve got to take it and get on with it. I’ve been training hard and working hard and it’s great to be out there."

Carlo Ancelotti commented:

"We are not happy, we are happy for the performance but we didn't start well, we conceded a goal too early, this made our game difficult but we reacted well. In the second half we had total control, we created a lot of chances but we needed to convert our chances to win this game. Now we need to keep going, stay focused, prepare for the next game and try to win. 

"We play good football and we have the opportunity to win games. We are a little bit unlucky sometimes and we need to stay more focused on our shooting. It was absolutely the same (as the Birmingham game) but we didn't lose, this is an important thing, we were able to draw. We deserved to win but obviously to concede at the start of a game is not good behaviour. We could find a lot of reasons to explain this moment but now it is important to train well, we need the players ready and fit and in a good condition to play.

"We have to stay focused on our training, on our matches, experience says that during a season these moments happen, we have to be strong, move quickly and keep going forward. It is an opportunity to show our character, our personality and it will be a good motivation to do better. I am disappointed obviously, the last four games away, to score one goal is not enough."

After a mammoth effort from club groundsmen, stewards and officials to clear the pitch and stands (plus council staff doing their job to sort roads and pavements outside) this game went ahead despite the heavy snowfalls and sub-zero temperatures that had affected the region for the previous few days.

The demands of Sky TV doubtless played their part in ensuring their broadcast went ahead and in the event, the earlier kickoff may have been crucial in getting the game played, match ref Andre Marriner commenting that the forecast of further snow for the late afternoon had positively influenced his decision.   

Upon entering the stadium, the most obvious sign of the poor weather was the number of regular attenders absent due to travel problems, rather than the pitch - an oasis of green bordered by snow piles. Even for hardy locals, scarves, gloves and hats were the order of the day while the fat blokes behind each goal looked to have covered up for the occasion. 

The masses of snow piled on the Leazes and Milburn Stand roof blocked out much of the light that normally passes through, making for a decidedly gloomy spectacle. Some of that white stuff then periodically loosened itself and crashed to earth during the game, one lump landing perilously close to Carlo Ancelotti at one point, although he feigned indifference. 

It should be mentioned that the visiting manager was sporting what appeared to be his wife's raincoat, accessorised rather poorly with Chelsea club shop gloves. And speaking of sartorial elegance - or the lack of it - the mittens worn by seven of his players were seized upon by pundits as evidence of the side's "don't like it up North" softness. 

United wore none - except for Krul, of course - although Wayne Routledge sported something that his granny looked to have knitted for him - Geordie Fashionistas later confirming that it was a "snood", although neck warmer sounds a bit less fey to us.

Fittingly on the 12th anniversary of Duncan Ferguson's Newcastle debut, increasing numbers of pigeons took up residency on the freshly-cleared pitch. However, they can hardly be blamed for the calamitous error that handed a lively United the lead shortly after the start - or an even earlier chance that Ameobi put wide.

That self-inflicted rick (which prompted our "Ice Cold for Alex" headline) and the wintry conditions brought to mind a Kluivert-inspired 1-0 FA Cup success here in February 2005. That day also saw United score early and somehow keep Chelsea at bay for the rest of the game, aided by some devastating support from the stands.

Much of the vocal output from Newcastle fans today was abusive, but for a change the Ashley that was the object of their derision was Chelsea's Cole rather than Mike. The booing that followed his first touch of the ball mutated into a renditions of "....he's a flaming bumhole" (or something like that). And finally, a hasty rewrite of the "Coloccini..." ditty was aired, a declaration of undying love for Walker's own Cheryl Tweedy plus eternal hatred for her ex-hubby. Even Sky couldn't scramble that one to make it incoherent.... 

At 0-1 down, the visitors looked far from happy and in the shape of Mikel apparently didn't want to be there at all. However, messrs Drogba and Anelka have punished us on countless occasions before and their mere presence here was a constant worry, regardless of their respective tropical ailments or gallic huffiness.

We really needed to score a second at this point to deepen their dark mood, but when another goal did come it was a leveller in added time at the end of the first half. That provided a jolt back to reality and from then on the objective was to claim a point by mostly stonewalling in the manner which brought us our last victory - at Arsenal. 

There were occasional forays upfield and when Cech went walkies, Routledge was only denied a fine goal by a goal-line clearance from Cole. Gradually though, the visitors found more time and space to mount attacks and Krul's goal survived numerous scares including Kalou's point-blank miss. 

Andy Carrroll's value to the team can be measured in various ways, most obviously the nine goals he's scored out of our league total of 23 and the fact he's netted four in our last five games - the sole United scorer in that time. However his willingness and fitness are also regularly demonstrated by the amount of work he gets through in his own penalty area.

In this game that was taken to extremes, with both Campbell and Taylor naturally feeling the effects of making their first league starts of the season and Hughton understandably reluctant to deploy either Perch or Kadar off the bench in their place. 

That left Carroll to act as a third centre half for much of the time and with Shola soldiering on despite a a hamstring problem that is restricting his training and was expected to see him rested today until Kevin Nolan failed a fitness test. United steadily declined as an attacking force, what possession they did gain mostly wasted through some disappointing set pieces. 

Nile Ranger's late arrival saw him give United some unpredictability up front as gaps emerged and one long run almost saw him achieve the impossible by shrugging off a trio of defenders, only to be out-muscled before managing to get his shot away. That proved to be the final act worthy of note, with added time seeing a noticeable reluctance to get upfield - even taking the ball out to the corner flag was deemed too risky.

A second successive home draw against London opposition was far more satisfactory than the point taken from Fulham's visit here and a distinct improvement on the shapeless sulk that was Bolton. Many of our problems last week were self-induced and directly or indirectly caused by midfield weaknesses. For that reason, the return of Tiote today was a plus (even if he does occasionally cause consternation with his twists and turns). Adding Barton back into that mix for next week's trip to West Brom should then provide Chris Hughton with a further boost. 

As has now been said on numerous occasions this season, we've picked up points at about the rate many predicted - but seldom from the games that one would expect. Boosting our total by one in the last two fixtures would have put most folks in mind of a valuable point earned at the Reebok and an expected home collapse against the current champions, but that wasn't to be the case. 

And to revisit another one of our perpetual observations, almost exactly two years ago we earned a point at Stamford Bridge but tossing away points against "small" teams cost us dear. 

Much of what goes on in any league is to do with timing and the vagaries of the fixture list, form, fettle and fitness. For that reason this was a great time to play and good effort to get it staged, despite our current squad deficiencies. A fine spring night in April with a full strength Chelsea side may have been a somewhat different proposition. 

Most definitely a point gained - proceed on that basis. 

Biffa