Final Score: Swansea City 2 Newcastle United 2

DEPENDING on what side of the fence you choose to sit, Newcastle United’s 2-2 draw at Swansea has either served to paper over the cracks; or shows signs of tangible progress on a hitherto wretched season for the Magpies.

Clueless at Southampton, toothless at Stoke, Alan Pardew’s side have had a bad time of it on the road this season, and it looked as though it would be the same story on Saturday when Swansea eased into the lead and looked capable of adding to it.

But, just like he did a fortnight ago against Hull City, Papiss Cisse, back from a kneecap injury, bailed out his beleaguered boss with a brace, twice cancelling out Swansea’s lead to take – what appears on paper at least to be – a decent point from the Liberty Stadium.

Weighing up the positives and the negatives from their afternoon in South Wales, Newcastle just about came out in credit. Pardew’s tactical shift from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 made the difference in the second half, with Sammy Ameobi’s introduction serving as an unlikely catalyst propelling the Magpies toward their second equaliser of the day.

But for an hour before that, Newcastle were rudderless, lacking drive, motivation, nous or that matchwinning instinct needed to climb out of the bottom three.

The supporters kept up their anti-Pardew, anti-Mike Ashley campaign throughout the match, at one point drawing a wry smile from Ashley. Would a defeat have led to Pardew’s removal? There’s no guarantee. Second-guessing Ashley is an exercise in futility. Likewise, there is no telling that Cisse’s brace therefore saved Pardew’s bacon.

A point, though, was a useful thing indeed. Stopping the rot on the road represents a big step for this Newcastle team, and will fill Pardew’s players with confidence going forward.

Pardew was certainly pleased with the outcome at Swansea.

"We showed tremendous character and had a bit more threat going forward, that showed in that we got two goals away from home,” said Pardew, as Cisse cancelled out goals from Wilfried Bony and Wayne Routledge. ‘I’m disappointed with the goals we conceded, but over the course of 90 minutes it was a fair result.

"We’ve been waiting patiently for Cisse, he’s been injured a long time.

"He gives us a real cutting edge. His first goal is top drawer, trust me. To score from that angle is very difficult. The second goal again was very good technique.

"You need that player who can score under pressure and when you need one desperately – he did that twice.

"We’ll take a lot of confidence from Saturday.

"I thank our fans who supported us brilliantly at the end. I’m pleased we got them the point, if not the win."

Pardew started with Gabriel Obertan ahead of Remy Cabella, as the Newcastle boss tweaked his side from the one that lost meekly at Stoke last Monday. The former Manchester United forward fired a shot wide on 17 minutes, from which Swansea countered and got their opening goal of the afternoon.

Ki Sung-Yueng, who was on loan at Sunderland last season, found Bony who exchanged passes with the superb Gylfi Sigurdsson before prodding past Krul. It was a counter-attack with pace and purpose, two elements which Newcastle sorely lacked in a drab first half in South Wales.

Bony was denied the chance to make it two on 38 minutes when the striker volleyed Nathan Dyer’s cross goalwards only to be denied by a smart Krul save.

They did, however, restore parity shortly before the interval when Cisse expertly turned in from Obertan’s cross. The finish was eye of the needle stuff, but sadly, Newcastle were unable to build on it after the break.

Swansea wasted no time in regaining the lead, with Routledge, who played 34 games for Newcastle in 2010 and 2011, dinking over Krul when Sigurdsson robbed Moussa Sissoko and threaded through to the lively winger.

Bony fired over the crossbar after strong work by Swansea on 65 minutes, while the striker brought another fine save out of Krul on 73 minutes, the Dutch stopper pushing Bony’s first-time effort from Nathan Dyer’s cross around the post.

But Newcastle levelled up again – Cisse again – when the Senegalese striker hooked past Fabianski from Ameobi’s swinging cross.

With the change of shape, Newcastle looked sharper and more cohesive, and once again went on the attack – Ameobi again the catalyst, finding Obertan out right, who touched inside for Daryl Janmaat, eventually finding Cisse who blazed his shot over the crossbar.

Former Middlesbrough striker Marvin Emnes drew a save out of Krul after being played in by Bony with five minutes left on the clock, with Newcastle bringing on Ayoze Perez for Cisse to attempt to gain the winner.

And it almost came courtesy of Janmaat, the Dutch international stinging Fabianski’s palms deep into injury time with a 20-yard daisycutter.

Pardew reserved praise for Ameobi and Krul – the former looking capable of changing the game while the latter kept Pardew’s side in the game with two fine saves from Bony.

And the Newcastle boss hopes that Ameobi in particular can build on his decent display.

He said: "I think Sammy has looked bright. We’re really hoping the penny has dropped with him because he has got such talent.

"He produced that on Saturday on the Premier League level and now we’ve got to see more of that this season.

"I’ve been talking about him for a long time without him really delivering.

"This season he looks better than any time I’ve seen him. Hopefully he can have a big season for us."