THE immediate response was to pat Charlton patronisingly on the back and smile knowingly about the vagaries of cup football. But the truth is Newcastle have not won away for three months and nine games, a record that has undermined their FA Premiership ambitions and which now threatens to make their cup progress a haphazard business.

They should have won here after completely dominating the first half, when Charlton, who are faltering in the middle of the first division with one win in five, appeared to suffer a little stage fright. But after taking the lead they seemed strangely reluctant to kill the tie.

They still appeared the likely winners until Mark Kinsella's late, improbable strike from 30 yards. Only then did they show a sense of urgency.

Perhaps, through the frosty, south London air and the mists of history, they remembered the time 50 years ago when an even more famous Newcastle side, that of Len Shackleton, Jackie Milburn and Roy Bentley, were beaten 4-0 by Charlton, who went on to win the cup on the other hand it might have been the sight of their fuming manager, Kevin Keegan, which finally got them going in those last, expiring minutes.

Until Kinsella's goal this had been the perfect return to The Valley for Robert Lee. As a star struck boy the England midfield player had once operated a turnstile at the old Valley and had nine years with the club, scoring the last goal at the old ground, before moving to St James's Park for £700,000 five years ago.

That money helped towards the redevelopment of the new stadium and, as if to show their gratitude, Charlton granted him the freedom of midfield. Lee and Peter Beardsley controlled the game in the first half.

Even then, at the height of Newcastle's ascendancy, Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand were unusually subdued and it was Lee himself who gave his side the lead in the 33rd minute. Lee Clark crossed from the right, Shearer headed down cleverly and Lee, after missing his first attempt, miscued his second into the corner of the net.

Before the goal Newcastle had shown signs of gathering a dangerous momentum. In the 22nd minute Lee had shot just wide from Beardsley's thoughtful pass and in the 25th John Beresford fired narrowly wide of the right post. But six minutes after that Beresford went even closer to creating a goal at the other end.

Shaun Newton, whose pace and balance distressed Beresford all afternoon, was clearly pulled back by the full back but referee Davil Allison, who could have been unsighted, waved play on. It was the more blatant of the two penalty appeals late in the game Shearer was denied.

Charlton dominated long spells of the second half without ever looking likely to equalise, so when Kinsella scored after 79 minutes there was a split second of disbelief before The Valley erupted. He gathered a loose ball and beat Shaka Hislop with a cleanly struck drive. Hislop should have saved the shot, directed at the centre of goal, although Newcastle have learned not to expect too much from their goalkeepers.

Charlton manager Alan Curbishley said afterwards: "We deserved a draw because we dominated the second half until we scored. After that they had one or two chances.

"We should have had a penalty, but then we haven't had one all season. I told the ref what I thought - he was also the ref when we went to Liverpool for a Coca Cola Cup replay and, I thought, had another good penalty shout.

Keegan said: "A draw was about right. The pitch was difficult, although it was right the game was played. There should have been two penalties. I also thought our keeper should have saved that goal, and he agrees. In the second half we stopped playing. We stopped passing it." Both goalscorers will miss next week's replay because of suspension.