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Match Report
Portsmouth v Newcastle 29 February 2004
MAGPIES STUNG BY LUA LUA STRIKE
Portsmouth 1-1 Newcastle
Simon Fudge reports
Tresor Lomana Lua Lua came back to haunt his parent club Newcastle United by scoring a late equaliser for Portsmouth at Fratton Park. The DR Congo international, on loan at Pompey from The Magpies, earned the home side a point after Craig Bellamy had put Newcastle a goal up in the first half.
Magpies boss Sir Bobby Robson brought back Alan Shearer, Kieron Dyer and Laurent Robert into the starting line-up after they were all substitutes at Valerenga in the Uefa Cup on Thursday while Lua Lua started against his employers.
In sunny conditions at Fratton Park, Newcastle defender Andy O'Brien nearly gave goalkeeper Shay Given problems early on with a poor back-pass header that Yakubu Aiyegbeni nearly took off his hands before forcing a corner.
Moments later, the visitors went down the other end and from a long clearance, Shearer flicked the ball into the path of Lee Bowyer, whose shot skimmed the outside netting of Shaka Hislop's goal.
Portsmouth then threatened with a real chance as Eyal Berkovic fed Lua Lua a fine through ball to the edge of Newcastle's box but his toe-poke strike was saved well by the onrushing Given.
The home side caused more problems with Lua Lua down the right and after getting Given in more trouble with a ball into the box - a challenge on Alexei Smertin saw strong appeals for a penalty from the home side that referee Andy D'Urso easily waved away.
The end to end action saw The Magpies come close next as Bellamy made a fine run into the box from the right before finding Bowyer with a cut-back but his half-hit shot rolled towards Shearer, who was then unable to turn the loose ball goalwards at the far post.
Pompey then went down the other end and should have gone in front themselves but after Yakubu teed up Berkovic from five yards out, the Israeli midfielder rolled his poorly hit shot wide of the near post.
Harry Redknapp's side would rue that miss as Newcastle used their speed on the counter-attack to take the lead on 34 minutes.
Dyer made a fine run past Arjan De Zeeuw and into the box before cutting the ball across to Bellamy and he slid home his finish past a diving Hislop for 1-0.
There was concern for the North East side five minutes before the break as Dyer was forced to come off with a suspected injury problem and be replaced by Jermaine Jenas.
The second half saw little of the open play that was enjoyed in the first half, with Pompey pushing forward but Smertin was only able to fire wide with a strike just after the break.
Both back-lines held strong throughout the majority of the second period, as most attacking surges forward by both sides lacked a quality final touch.
But with the match seemingly heading towards a Newcastle win, substitute Ivica Mornar crossed in from the right to Lua Lua and his sublime low volley beat a frozen Given to bring Pompey back level - much to the dismay of his parent club.
The late goal pulled the South Coast club out of the bottom three while Newcastle failed to further solidify their fourth place position in the Premiership table.
Report From  , For full report and stats, click here.
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