Alan Shearer proved that he can walk the walk and talk the talk on Saturday as Newcastle United gave Stoke City a taste of their own medicine by scoring from a long throw to earn a precious point in their battle to avoid relegation.

The former England forward was spending his Saturday’s in the Match of the Day studios in West London until he decided to swap the sofa for the dugout two weeks ago and it is unlikely that Newcastle would have recovered from conceding a goal in the hostile atmosphere of the Britannia Stadium had it not been for Shearer’s aura and tactical acumen.

“I asked my players to be brave and demand the ball and they did that,” he said. “There was a lot of spirit and fight.” Shearer has introduced a strict regime of ice baths and team meals, but in the first half, Newcastle were still the expensive collection of misfits that they were at the start of the Barclays Premier League season.

Their new manager had spent the week preparing his players for the physical onslaught that they were about to face against Stoke, but despite playing with three centre backs, they struggled to cope with their opponents’ direct approach.

It was almost inevitable that Stoke would score with a header from a set-piece. Alarm bells were ringing in the Newcastle defence as early as the third minute when a header by Ryan Shawcross narrowly missed.

As always, Stoke were dangerous in the air from set-pieces and Rory Delap’s prodigious throw-ins. When Shola Ameobi ducked under a corner taken by Liam Lawrence in the 33rd minute the consequences were calamitous. Abdoulaye Faye, playing against one of his former clubs, scored his second goal of the season against Newcastle with a routine header. “I was bitterly disappointed,” Shearer said. “Shola has held his hands up but it was another individual error and a lack of concentration.”

Glenn Whelan and Faye almost extended Stoke’s lead soon after the interval, but after a burst of pressure, Tony Pulis’s team were happy to sit back and hold on. “We’re desperately disappointed that we did not score another in that period,” Pulis, the Stoke manager, said. “If we had, we would have won the game comfortably.”

Shearer’s bold decision to bring on Jonás Gutiérrez and Carroll saved the day for Newcastle. Gutiérrez provided the attacking thrust that had been missing and Carroll was far more effective and hungry than Ameobi. When Damien Duff hooked the ball into the penalty area after Stoke had failed to deal with a long throw taken by Ryan Taylor nine minutes from time, Carroll was in the right place at the right time to send a looping header over the despairing dive of Thomas Sorensen. “We’ve got to take great heart from that second-half performance,” Shearer said. “You know what we were going to get from Stoke and for 99 per cent of the time we handled it very well.”

With six games left, Newcastle are still in deep trouble, but after six managers in five years, they appear to have found the right man for the job.

Stoke City (4-4-2): T Sorensen 6 - A Wilkinson 6, Abdoulaye Faye 7, R Shawcross 7, D Higginbotham 6 - L Lawrence 7, G Whelan 6, R Delap 7, M Etherington 6 - J Beattie 6, R Fuller 7. Substitutes: R Cresswell (for Beattie, 72min 6), D Pugh (for Etherington, 80), S Kelly (for Wilkinson, 89). Not used: S Simonsen, I Sonko, S Olofinjana, M Tonge. Next: Blackburn (h).

Newcastle (5-3-2): S Harper 6 - R Taylor 6, H Beye 7, D Edgar 7, S Bassong 7, D Duff 6 - D Guthrie 6, N Butt 7, K Nolan 7 - F Ameobi 5, M Owen 5. Substitutes: J Gutiérrez 7 (for Guthrie, 63min 7), A Carroll (for Ameobi, 70 7). Not used: T Krul, F Coloccini, A Smith, Geremi, N Ranger. Next: Tottenham (a)

Referee: C Foy Attendance: 27,382