MICHAEL OWEN was told to expect a circus at St James’ Park, and it duly arrived in the form of the Newcastle defence. At a time when the club are pushing their revamped stadium tours, their suspect back four took to the spirit a little too literally, affording Fulham intimate knowledge of their penalty area to take the edge off Tyneside’s most eagerly awaited debut in a decade.

A stunning free kick from French teenager Charles N’Zogbia, an early substitute, who curled home his first league goal from the edge of the penalty area after Luis Boa Morte had fouled Owen, at least spared Newcastle’s blushes.

“I’m glad we’ve got the occasion over with,” admitted Newcastle manager Graeme Souness. “I’d have preferred Michael’s debut to be away because of all the hype. I feared we might get caught up in the whole thing and that proved to be true.”

The Scot has been set a minimum target of a top-six finish by Freddy Shepherd, the chairman. On this showing, Newcastle have a long way to go to achieve that.

Souness added: “We didn’t get enough service to Michael, and we’re disappointed because we’ve not played particularly well.”

Owen said: “It was a great occasion, especially when I came out. You dream of a goal on your debut, but sadly it wasn’t to be.”

Despite his pivotal role in Newcastle’s 78th-minute equaliser, Owen clearly needs time to regain the sharpness dulled by a season made up largely of bench-warming at Real Madrid.

Whether Souness will also be allowed that precious commodity remains to be seen. He may have captured headlines with the club record £16.5m spent on Owen, but the England international will not stop the side leaking goals.

N’Zogbia’s crucial intervention, ensured Newcastle narrowly avoided becoming the first side in Premiership history to fail to score in their opening five games.

They were fortunate to escape with a point, only their second of the season, as a Claus Jensen free kick from 20 yards bounced back off the bar seven minutes from time, the result of a Scott Parker foul on the Dane which led to the Newcastle midfielder being sent off for a second yellow card.

Alan Shearer, now without a Premiership goal in 24 hours of football, produced a fine low save early on from Tony Warner, and Stephen Carr struck the underside of the crossbar with a fierce 25-yard shot 15 minutes from time, but otherwise Newcastle were anonymous.

Chris Coleman, the Fulham manager, claimed, with some justification, that after a first away point of the season, his side had performed better than when they won 4-1 here last November.

He said: “We didn’t get what we deserved. We made sure all the hype surrounding Michael Owen worked in our favour by keeping Newcastle at bay. We had plenty of chances and a second goal would have seen us go on to win by three or four and I’m not happy with a point.”

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