NEWCASTLE 1 SWANSEA 1
Darlow, Yedlin, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Shelvey (Merino 82), Diamé, Ritchie, Pérez, Atsu, Gayle (Joselu 64)
Subs: Elliot, Murphy, Hayden, Manquillo, Haidara
Substitute Joselu scored within four minutes of coming on to earn Newcastle United a draw against bottom side Swansea City.
The visitors, who were denied a first-half penalty when Mohamed Diame appeared to handle the ball, took the lead through Jordan Ayew's header after Karl Darlow had parried his first effort.
But the referee did well in a match that saw two poor teams slogging it out in a tough struggle. He got every decision right, including spotting Gayle being offside when he could have put Newcastle 1-0 up.
As one fan put it after the match: "If we had a proper centre-forward we would have been 3-0 up at half-time!"
Newcastle equalised eight minutes after Swansea scored when Ayoze Perez's deflected shot fell for Joselu and he shot through the legs of Alfie Mawson and into the net.
Swansea are now four points behind 17th-placed Bournemouth, while Newcastle are now only three points above the relegation zone in 14th.
The Swans nearly grabbed a dramatic winner in injury time but Wilfried Bony's shot was cleared off the goalline by Newcastle's DeAndre Yedlin.
Swansea will be disappointed they did not record what would have been only their fifth Premier League win of a difficult season.
Carlos Carvalhal has now taken four points from his opening three league matches in charge since replacing the sacked Paul Clement in December, and also gained an FA Cup third-round replay against Championship leaders Wolves.
However, the Portuguese was unhappy with a controversial decision in an uneventful first half as Diame appeared to move his arm towards the ball after Mike van der Hoorn had flicked it towards goal.
Carvalhal said: "My assistant says it's a very clear penalty and a red card also, so it's another decision that creates something important but what can we do? Nothing, only talk about this.
"This is one of the situations VAR will in the future say clear penalty - it will be clear."
Swansea have struggled for goals all season but took the lead on the hour when Ayew headed at goal following Van der Hoorn's fine cross from the right flank.
Newcastle goalkeeper Darlow produced a one-handed save to parry Ayew's first header, but the Ghanaian pounced from the rebound to score his third goal in five league matches.
Substitute Bony has only scored twice since rejoining the club for £12m from Manchester City, but had a chance to win it only to see his shot in the 93rd minute hacked off the line by Yedlin.