BLACKBURN Rovers' hero of the hour, Jonathan Stead, was the toast of Ewood last night after he pounced to score his second goal in five days.

Fresh from his match-winning strike against Middlesbrough on Saturday, the former Huddersfield striker netted a priceless equaliser on his home debut as Rovers drew 1-1 with high-flying Newcastle.

Craig Bellamy's second half goal appeared to have put United on course for their first ever Premiership victory at Ewood.

But Stead then snatched a hard-earned point for Rovers with a goal in the 85th minute to cap an incredible few days for the 20-year-old.

"Life feels great at the moment. It couldn't be much better," said Stead.

"Two games, two goals. I couldn't have asked for a better start than that, really.

"I hoped that I would do well and I'm beside myself after two goals in two games.

"I was disappointed with myself at half-time because I had a couple of half decent chances in the first half where I could have done better.

"But I said to myself at half-time 'if I get another chance then be more decisive with it and really go for goal' and it paid off."

Rovers boss Graeme Souness was also quick to praise his young striker for the part he played in rescuing a point.

"We are not getting carried away. It's two games and two goals but take the goal out of it and I still thought he played well," said Souness.

"On Saturday at Middlesbrough, it wasn't a good game of football because we lumped it a lot and Middlesbrough did, too.

"So I said to our chairman 'you haven't seen the best of him yet' because his biggest asset is his work on the ground, not in the air.

"Last night, he showed he could hold it up for us and I thought him and Andy Cole worked well together.

"Jon is extremely mobile and you've got to remember he's still only 20 years old.

"He's only trained with us for four or five days and that's where the big improvement will come because, with all due respect to the lads at Huddersfield, he's now training with better players.

"His thought process will quicken and his technique will get better."

Although Stead stole the headlines for his late goal, the former Huddersfield striker was keen to hail Paul Gallagher's role in the build up to his equaliser.

"It was another fantastic ball from Gally. He's set me up for two now so I've got a lot to thank him for," said Stead.

"He's a great player and his creativity around the box is something which is very valuable.

"It was a great ball and I just managed to get on the end of it and steered it back in."

Rovers deserved a point for creating the lion's share of chances in what was an entertaining contest.

"In the first half, I thought we were the better team and over the 90 minutes I think we shaded it as well," said Souness.

"I thought we were very unlucky not to score in the first half.

"We knew that Bobby would have a go at his players at half-time so the second half was always going to be different to the first.

"They were a bit more aggressive and we gave away a dodgy goal.

"But we battled back, which is all credit to the players, and it would have been hard on us if we didn't get something from the game."

Meanwhile, Souness was also keen to stress that Andy Cole remains a big part of his plans, despite his decision to drop him at the weekend.

"We didn't start with Gally last night because, regardless of what's been said in the papers, Andy Cole is still a very big part of what is going on here and I think he had a very good game," said Souness.

"Given the situation we find ourselves in, we will pick different teams to play at home and away.

"But I thought we had some very good performances last night."