Eddie Howe believes Newcastle are still in strong position in Champions League
The Magpies face PSV Eindhoven and Paris St-Germain in their final two games.
Eddie Howe is confident Newcastle’s Champions League fate remains in their own hands despite seeing two priceless points snatched from their grasp at Bayer Leverkusen.
The Magpies were leading 2-1 at the BayArena when Alejandro Grimaldo struck to ensure it finished all square, a result which leaves them on 10 points and in 12th place in the table when victory would have catapulted them into sixth.
Their fate will be decided by a home clash with PSV Eindhoven and a trip to holders Paris St Germain next month and Howe is hopeful they have given themselves a platform to progress.
He told TNT Sports: “I think it leaves us in a good position. It’s in our hands. We have two tough games to come but we’ll look forward to playing at home and then, of course, a really tough one at the end which we knew was always there.
“But all we can do is now focus back on to the Premier League. We’re in a decent vein of form. We’re not at our very best but we’re improving and that’s all I can ask of the players.”
Howe will now turn his attention to Sunday’s derby trip to Sunderland wondering what might have been on an eventful night in Germany.
Newcastle once again fell behind from a set-piece when Robert Andrich headed a corner into the unwitting Bruno Guimaraes’ back and into the net and they might have been reduced to 10 when Malick Thiaw was perhaps fortunate only to be booked for a foul on Patrik Schick.
However, Anthony Gordon converted a 51st-minute penalty and then crossed for 19-year-old substitute Lewis Miley to score, only for Grimaldo to snatch a draw two minutes from time after the visitors had twice hit the post and Thiaw had seen his header brilliantly saved by Mark Flekken.
Howe, who was unhappy at half-time, said of his side’s second-half display: “I thought we pressed with more belief – I thought we pressed well in both halves, actually, and regained the ball a lot and I thought we had several opportunities to counter-attack and cause them more problems than we did.
“But we eventually got our attacking game going and we could have scored more. It’s a tough one to take because at 3-1, I think it would have been game over.”
Gordon and his team-mates were once again left to bemoan their inability to hang on to leads after conceding yet another late goal.
Asked the reason for that repeated failing, the forward told TNT Sports: “I actually don’t know. I don’t know if it’s fatigue with all the games coming up that we’re getting a bit tired late on in games, I’m not too sure.
“But listen, it all comes back to mentality. We’ve got to be strong, we’ve got to hold off in those games because top teams do.”
Howe has a fresh injury worry ahead of the short trip to Wearside after midfielder Joelinton came off after complaining of discomfort in his groin.
