Peter Crouch headed home in the final minute of the game to rescue Stoke City a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United at St James' Park this afternoon.

The match took the best part of 75 minutes to get going as Jack Colback finally found a way through with his strike from inside the area.

However, the Magpies were unable to hold on as Crouch found the net with his 44th headed goal in the Premier League to salvage a share of the spoils for City.

The away side threatened first when Jonathan Walters beat Mike Williamson to a long ball forward before turning and firing a shot just wide of Tim Krul's goal.

Newcastle nearly took the lead on 11 minutes when Moussa Sissoko clipped a ball into the path of the onrushing Remy Cabella, whose header was tipped around the post at point-blank range by Asmir Begovic.

Sammy Ameobi teed up a quick Newcastle break on 20 minutes when his ball down the left found Ayoze Perez, but the Spanish forward's cross into the box evaded Cabella and Stoke cleared the danger.

It was down the left that much of Newcastle's joy came, and it was a smart exchange of passes between Cabella and Sissoko that sent the latter through on goal on 26 minutes when Begovic was out quickly to smother the ball.

Glenn Whelan's wild tackle on Ameobi earned the Stoke man a booking just after the half-hour mark, but Newcastle could not take advantage of the set piece as Cabella's delivery sailed straight into the hands of the waiting Begovic.

Stoke had a free kick of their own from just outside the Newcastle box on 40 minutes, but Walters's flick on from Stephen Ireland's cross evaded everyone in a red and white shirt.

Each side's best moments of the half came in the dying minutes as, first, Cabella's ball sent Perez scampering through on goal, only for the striker to drag his shot wide of the far post.

Stoke's golden opportunity then came in injury time when a Victor Moses header from Ireland's cross was clawed away by Krul.

The second 45 minutes started in a tentative manner, with neither side able to truly muster any real goalscoring chances, although the Potters looked to put some pressure on their opponents with a succession of corners.

Colback was perhaps a little fortunate to avoid seeing a red card following his challenge on Moses, which went unpunished by the referee as both teams continued to push for a goal.

Newcastle, who picked up their first victory under John Carver last time out, finally found their groove as Papiss Cisse directed a header wide when he had a slight glimpse of goal, although the home side did not have to wait too much longer to finally make the breakthrough.

Having avoided being sent off just a few minutes before, Colback smashed the ball home from 16 yards out to bag his third goal of the season and put the Magpies on the brink of back-to-back victories.

Ireland thought that he had levelled things up with a curler which got the better of Krul, but the Irishman was adjudged to have been in an offside position.

Perez and Gabriel Obertan both squandered chances to put the game out of Stoke's reach in the closing stages, with the latter looking to pick out a teammate when shooting appeared to be the better option, and Newcastle's profligacy proved to be costly as Stoke struck back at the death.

It was the man who scored against United in the reverse meeting earlier this season who did the damage once more, with Crouch looping Geoff Cameron's cross over the reach of Krul to equalise in dramatic fashion.

The point ensures that Stoke remain in the top half of the table, while Newcastle are one point below in 11th place.