Just when one audacious young winger fresh from the substitutes’ bench looked to have secured victory for Newcastle, courtesy of a brilliant assist, another wide boy cast in a markedly similar mould registered a stoppage time equaliser.  Rolando Aarons seemed to have not only spoiled Neil Warnock’s return to Palace’s technical area but eased the scrutiny on his own manager when Wilfried Zaha’s later intervention seized a deserved point for Crystal Palace. Small wonder a stony faced Alan Pardew failed to share Warnock’s unbridled joy at the final whistle.  Much earlier, it had taken Warnock’s team a mere 31 seconds to take the lead. When Marouane Chamakh’s shot was fumbled by Tim Krul, Dwight Gayle pounced on the rebound, using his left foot to divert the ball into the back of the net from close range.  Newcastle could soon have fallen further behind had Jason Puncheon not shot a fraction too high after connecting with Yannick Bolasie’s clever assist. Shortly afterwards came the first chants of “Hatem Ben Arfa” from home fans questioning why Pardew’s most talented player continues to languish in the club’s deep freeze, exiled from any first team involvement.  Effectively closing his ears to this message, Pardew shook his head and muttered to himself before turning sharply on his heel and swapping his technical area for the relative sanctuary of the dugout.  He desperately needed some slick attacking action to distract the crowd but little was forthcoming until Moussa Sissoko shot narrowly, and powerfully, wide at the end of an exhilarating counter-attack.  No matter; the moment when a Newcastle player would score for the first time this season – (the Tynesiders’s goal in the 1-0 League Cup at Gillingham had been registered unintentionally by the home side’s John Egan) – was fast approaching.  It arrived after Daryl Janmaat, the Holland right-back, unleashed a left foot shot from close range following fine approach play from Rémy Cabella in particular and Emmanuel Rivière. Even so, it required extra assistance in the form of a deflection off Martin Kelly to ensure the ball found itself on an unstoppable flight path past Julián Speroni.  Unfortunately for Pardew, Warnock had clearly remembered how to deliver a galvanising half-time homily and Jason Puncheon for one evidently took heed. There had been much speculation as to whether Tony Pulis’s successor would even select Puncheon given that the attacking midfielder has criticised him on Twitter in the past but, very early in the second half, Warnock must have congratulated himself for grasping the bigger picture.  After being cued up by Bolasie, Puncheon’s audacious left foot volley flew between Fabricio Coloccini’s legs en route beyond Krul. It all served to confirm that Newcastle’s expensive summer signings including Siem de Jong and Rivière were taking time to adjust to the Premier League but mercifully for Pardew the home manager was able to liberate young academy graduate Aarons from the bench.  As confident as they come young Aarons – newly summoned to Gareth Southgate’s England Under-21 squad – is a swashbuckling left winger who delighted in running at Warnock’s defence. He is not bad in the air either and proved the point by heading Cabella’s corner home to equalise.  Aarons might have relieved the pressure on his manager – not to mention securing all three points – had his gloriously dipping, swerving, tightly angled, shot dispatched following a cute one-two with Massadio Haîdara not floated inches wide of the far post.  Not about to settle for a point Aarons further changed the St James’ Park mood by skinning Adrian Mariappa and delivering an angled chip which was centimetres away from crossing the line before it rebounded off the bar. If Palace sensed a momentary reprieve such hope was extinguished when Mike Williamson forced the rebound in from close range.  Unfortunately for Newcastle there were seven minutes of stoppage time – just long enough for Palace’s returning Zaha to emphasise that he was not about to be upstaged by Aarons. By way of proving the point he met a wonderfully cushioned header on the volley, lashing the ball past Krul as, across in the area Warnock jumped up and down like Zebedee, punching thin air with both fists.
Wilfried Zaha scored in the fifth minute of added time to give Crystal Palace a 3-3 draw at Newcastle in his and manager Neil Warnock’s first game back at the club