Newcastle left Wembley Stadium empty-handed as usual on Saturday lunchtime, but for once could count themselves slightly unfortunate to have done so.

A battling display looked like being rewarded with a valuable point, until Martin Dubravka allowed an unremarkable shot from Heung-Min Son through his hands just seven minutes from full time.

Both sides struck the goal frame (Lamela's header on 24 minutes, Rondon's header on 51 minutes) and missed chances to open the scoring, although the hosts inevitably had the lion's share of opportunities and twice denied by goal-line clearances during the second half.

Wearing their maroon and blue change kit and sticking with the same side that defeated Champions Manchester City on Tuesday, Newcastle left Antonio Barreca on the bench while fellow new arrival Miguel Almiron was waiting for his work permit application to be processed.

Salomon Rondon ploughed a lone furrow up front with Ayoze Perez in support, but most of the action came at the other end - our back five struggling to cope with crosses that a home side lacking injured duo Harry Kane and Deli Alli failed to convert.

All that changed with seven minutes of normal time remaining, Spurs substitute Fernando Llorente seeming using a combination of chest and arm to bring down a forward ball that he laid off to Son. 

The South Korean returned from Asian Cup duty to play 90 minutes against Watford in midweek and was full of running again today, driving his side on and providing a threat in and around the area.

Son's shot was straight at Dubravka, but he could only awkwardly and agonisingly help it into the net. It was a poor way to concede and although United pressed forward in the final minutes, a late equaliser didn't really look likely and Hugo Lloris collected his clean sheet with relative ease.

Results elsewhere left United down one place in fifteenth, level with Burnley and Southampton following their draw but with a superior goal difference. The bottom two Fulham and Huddersfield Town both lost, but third-bottom Cardiff City beat Bournemouth to close the gap to two points.

Despite the outcome, neither the Newcastle fans or players seemed particularly despondent at full time - after what remaining a positive week when we improved our points total by three and squad size by two. That neither event was expected says a lot about the austere times we inhabit.

The primary task of staying in this division will be greatly aided by positive results in the home double header against Burnley and Huddersfield later this month, but a sequence of tricky away games will require more defensive-minded displays like today's to stay ahead of those beneath us.

Whether that's quite the Premier League dream that's been sold to Almiron remains to be seen, but our cynical streak can't help but recall the Graham Carr era blueprint of bringing players into the top flight, proving their quality and then selling them to a proper PL club by in a future window. 

Rafa may have ambitions to mix it with the big lads, but the owner doesn't, unless there's genuine and sustained investment in the squad - not just spending a chunk of the Mitro money and haggling on another try before you buy deal (although given Kenedy's demise that might be a prudent move).

For any pride taken from the honest endeavour on show here today by the likes of Longstaff, in all probability our next chance of Wembley "glory" will come in a Championship playoff final. 

Biffa