THE FORMER Newcastle United centre-half Titus Bramble is a laughing stock on Tyneside no more; instead he will be spoken of through gritted teeth as he silenced growing talk of the Newcastle revival with an equaliser a minute from the end, which was the least his Wigan side deserved.

Newcastle appeared to be heading for an undeserved three points thanks to second-half goals from Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins, but the team were still patting each other on the back when Bramble headed the equaliser.

Steve Bruce will have been delighted with his players for the fightback after they had beeen under the cosh for most of the second half as a result of the harsh sending-off of defender Emmerson Boyce.

Newcastle fans had been licking their lips at the prospect of a third successive home win after the Wigan team was announced and neither Emile Heskey nor Amr Zaki was on the teamsheet. The question was where Wigan would get a goal without their two most important players and within three minutes of the start we had an answer. Maynor Figueroa squared the ball to Olivier Kapo and with the Newcastle defence backing off, Kapo moved the ball on to Ryan Taylor ,whose shot looped over Shay Given.

From then on, Wigan were clearly the better team, though Newcastle were disrupted by the departure of Joey Barton with a suspected knee injury after a two-footed tackle from Lee Cattermole that went unpunished by the erratic Andre Marriner. The referee clearly got a decision wrong on 53 minutes that changed the game. Boyce, who had been booked in the first half for a challenge on Jonas Gutierrez, slid in on Shola Ameobi and a red card was produced, but the replay showed Boyce had touched the ball away from Ameobi, who fell heavily over his outstretched leg.

Newcastle sought to take full advantage and Owen, an unpopular substitute for Gutierrez on 68 minutes, had a couple of great chances before he snatched the equaliser. Ameobi’s long shot was only parried by Chris Kirkland and the goalkeeper was punished for his first mistake of the day, as Owen poked the ball into the net.

The doubters will surely have to accept that Owen deserves his place in the starting line-up now that he has recovered from his groin injury, though Martins showed shortly afterwards why he shouldn’t be the one to make way, striking a brilliant shot from just inside the box that flew past Kirkland.

The Magpies appeared to have stolen the match, but Bramble, who was a towering figure throughout, had the last say. From Daniel De Ridder’s corner, he rose highest and produced a strong header that bounced in off Damien Duff on the goalline.

Star man: Titus Bramble (Wigan)

Yellow cards: Newcastle: Beye Wigan: Boyce, Bramble, Palacios Red card: Boyce

Referee: A Marriner

Attendance: 47,657

NEWCASTLE: Given 6, Beye 6, Bassong 6, Coloccini 5, Jose Enrique 5 (N’Zogbia 68min), Gutierrez 6 (Owen 68min), Barton 5 (Guthrie 16min, 5), Butt 7, Duff 5, Ameobi 5, Martins 6

WIGAN: Kirkland 7, Taylor 7 (De Ridder 81min), Bramble 8, Boyce 6, Figueroa 6, Scharner 6, Cattermole 6, Palacios 7, Kapo 7 (Brown 90min), Camara 6 (Kilbane 90min), Valencia 6