Newcastle United kept its unbeaten Premier League start alive with a dramatic 2-2 draw against Bournemouth at St James' Park, recovering from two goals down thanks to Harvey Barnes and substitute Jacob Ramsey.
Matthias Jaissle's side was second best for long stretches but found another late response to avoid its first defeat of the season.
Bournemouth seized control almost immediately. Alex Scott's deflected effort fell kindly for Marcus Tavernier in the ninth minute, and the midfielder reacted quickly to finish beyond Lukas Hornicek. Newcastle appealed for a foul on Anthony Elanga earlier in the move, but VAR found nothing to reverse the decision and the goal stood.
The visitors continued to overwhelm Newcastle's midfield and should have extended their advantage before eventually doing so in the 35th minute.
Justin Kluivert's long-range strike rebounded off the post and Hornicek before Scott recovered possession, with his attempted ball across goal deflecting off Malick Thiaw and looping into the net for an own goal. At that point, it surely looked like the Magpies could very well lose by three or four goals, but…
There's always a but.
Newcastle responded just 27 seconds after the restart. Barnes collected possession on the left, cut inside onto his right foot and curled a ridiculous, HB-trademarked finish beyond Djordje Petrovic. It was Newcastle's first shot on target and provided an unlikely route back into a game Bournemouth had largely controlled, with a mad crowd finally making itself present inside SJP.
Jaissle's team tightened defensively after halftime without doing that much in attack. Joe Willock, however, glanced a header narrowly wide following good work from Yoane Wissa and Elanga, before deadline-day signing Matias Fernandez-Pardo entered in the 63rd minute for his Newcastle debut and boosted the Magpies' offense down the left side.
The pressure finally paid off in the 88th minute. Bournemouth failed to clear Jacob Murphy's delivery, and the loose ball eventually reached Ramsey inside the area. The substitute struck a low finish into the bottom corner for Newcastle's second and nearly helped inspire a winner, with Wissa narrowly failing to reach Sean Steur's late through-ball.
Jaissle admitted afterward that Newcastle's first-half display fell well below expectations.
"Mixed feelings," Jaissle said. "Happy for that spirit, that belief the lads were showing until the end together with the crowd. But the first half was not expected. This is something we need to improve. This is part of the journey."
The draw leaves Newcastle unbeaten through its opening three Premier League matches, but the 16 shots conceded will give Jaissle an issue to work on fixing after a particularly open first half.
Newcastle now turns to the Carabao Cup, traveling to Millwall midway for its third-round tie scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 8.
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