AT THE end of the match players from both teams sank to the ground, some on their haunches, some flat out on their backs. It was testament to the effort that everyone involved had put into this pulsating encounter.

It wasn’t quite the chaos theory of Newcastle’s last home match, the anarchic 4-4 against Luton. But again, they had to dig deep, twice clawing their way back after falling behind to Bournemouth.

That former Cherry Matt Ritchie grabbed the equaliser two minutes into injury time — his first goal since July 2020 — was of small comfort to Eddie Howe.

“It was another comeback for us,” he said. “We had to dig really deep today. Real credit to the group to raise themselves again to get a point. It’s not the three we wanted, but it’s important we didn’t lose.”

The first half promised, but failed, to deliver. There were hints of what was to come; embers glowing, but not quite catching fire.

Anthony Gordon went close after charging down Neto. At the other end, Dominic Solanke had two gilt-edged chances, but Martin Dubravka saved smartly on both occasions.

Thus, it seemed somewhat unfair that it was a Dubravka error which sparked the game into life early in the second half. Receiving a regulation back pass from Sven Botman, he took a touch then slipped allowing Solanke to dart in and tuck the ball away.

Gordon levelled from the penalty spot soon after. VAR took four and a half minutes to decide that although Fabian Schar was in an offside position, he had been fouled by Adam Smith because he wasn’t interfering with play. It was contentious (isn’t it always these days?)

Bournemouth did not wilt. If their first had been fortuitous in the extreme, their second was a thing of beauty. They converted defence into attack in lightning speed and with Dan Burn conceding space on the left, Antonie Emenyo had the time to surge forward and rifle a shot across Dubravka.

“I am happy with the performance, but not the result,” said Andoni Iraola. “It’s irritating because we will talk only about the refereeing, nobody will say my players came here, they created a lot of chances and they deserved to win.”

That they didn’t was due to Bournemouth old boy Ritchie. He came on in the 90th minute and his impact was almost immediate, firing a loose ball past Neto.