Substitute Marlon Harewood's first Newcastle goal rescued a point in a 1-1 draw for the Coca-Cola Championship leaders after QPR threatened to dent their promotion charge.

The on-loan Aston Villa strike poked home Andy Carroll's 70th-minute header to cancel out Ben Watson's early opener - which deflected off Steven Taylor -and increase the Magpies' lead at the top of the table to three points.

However, the visitors will consider themselves unfortunate not to have left Tyneside with all three points on a night when the pace of winger Wayne Routledge and the movement of midfielder Watson were simply too much for their hosts.

Danny Guthrie had a first-half penalty saved by Radek Cerny after defender Damion Stewart was penalised for handball in the box as he blocked Taylor's shot, and Carroll and Kevin Nolan both went close with headers, but QPR also had their chances.