Newcastle and Norwich played out a poor 0-0 draw at St
 James' Park with neither side able to make the breakthrough in a game lacking in quality
Norwich had the better of the chances, with Sam Byram (5) and Teemu Pukki (61) guilty of missing the best opportunities, while Newcastle could have gone ahead in the first half when Joelinton's header (21) was saved by Tim Krul
There were 20 corners in total, with Norwich having 12 and Newcastle eight, yet neither side could make any of them count in a game which severely lacked a clinical finisher
The result is not a great help to either side, with Norwich languishing seven points off safety at the bottom of the table, while Newcastle are 10th
The match actually started fairly promisingly, with both sides passing the ball about well and looking to attack when possible
The first clear chance came to Byram, who got good contact with a header from a corner, but his effort was too close to Martin Dubravka, who palmed it away well
Pukki was next to go close for the visitors, but his effort from just outside the box was tipped over from Dubravka, who was excellent all day
Newcastle's best chance fell to Joelinton, whose header was palmed away by Krul, with Miguel Almiron's follow-up missing the target
The second half saw a flurry of corners and free-kicks for both sides, but neither were able to make anything of them, and the St James' Park faithful groaned with frustration on more than one occasion
Pukki was wasteful on two occasions for the Canaries
 First he blazed over the bar in the 61st minute after he was found in the box with a cross, and he then had his tame effort saved by Dubravka 10 minutes later when he was put through by Ondrej Duda
In the end neither side could make the breakthrough, and both sets of fans would have left St James' Park feeling disappointed
Nabil Bentaleb was the only of Newcastle's recent signings to start the game, and he put in a tidy if unspectacular performance to give Toon supporters a sign of things to come
Valentino Lazaro and Danny Rose came off the bench in the second half, and looked decent on their first appearances
 They will surely be in for a starting berth in the near future, with Steve Bruce's side desperately in need of an addition of quality
Newcastle boss : "What's important is when you play so poorly you don't get beaten
 That is the only positive along with the introduction of three new lads who will help us
"But from the way we looked tired and jaded in the forward areas, I still don't think Allan Saint-Maximin is 100 per cent, I am concerned with him
 Overall you move on and take it and get ready for Tuesday
"Norwich boss "We are totally disappointed
 In general an away draw at Newcastle and a clean sheet isn't bad
 We controlled it, created chances
 From first to last we controlled it
 The only that was missing was a goal
 We are upset with the outcome
"I always respect the players
 They put themselves in tough positions
 We were dangerous
 They did everything we asked for
 We want them to be more brutal with their finishing, but these things happen sometimes
 I'm happy with the performance, not the result
Newcastle go to Oxford United for an FA Cup replay on Tuesday, while Norwich host Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday, February 15 at 5
30pm 
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