Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan met the Queen this week. Proof, if it were needed, that the club’s new Saudi-led regime has friends in high places.
But this point at the Palace owed everything to His Majesty Callum Wilson. The striker’s genius has long since masked his side’s deficiencies elsewhere on the park, and a change of boss has not shifted that dependency just yet.
Graeme Jones, caretaker in the wake of Steve Bruce’s sacking, would have taken a draw before kick-off. And he would have certainly settled for a point on 87 minutes when Christian Benteke looked to have headed his second of the game.