Newcastle were in dire straits at a rain-lashed Molineux looking round for inspiration but there was no local hero to ride to their rescue.

Outcome: two valuable points dropped. A big opportunity missed. European qualification hopes severely hit.

Why so costly? Because what lies ahead after this week’s return home is mountainous – six out of seven games across all competitions away which is more than a sobering thought. It’s frightening given that we suffer from permanent travel sickness.

Let’s be truthful, what United faced was a Wolves team rock bottom of the table, stranded and staring at the Championship with a solitary single PL victory all season.

The Mags didn’t have heavy artillery up top. They had pop guns. Nick Woltemade hadn’t scored in his last six games and had notched only twice in his last 12. Anthony Gordon hadn’t scored in open play in the PL all campaign.

And when both got the hook after the hour mark on came Yoane Wissa who promptly disappeared down the plughole.

Woltemade, all 6ft 5in of him, missed a sitter as early as the 11th minute when, completely unmarked, he failed to even get his head on to a Harvey Barnes cross begging to be nodded home. A goal then would have set up the flow of the game. Instead it set up an insipid display from the visitors. United are paying big time for the lack of a penetrative centre-forward.

Nick is a big guy but not a clinical header of the ball. SuperMac and Alan Shearer were struggling to make 6ft but dynamite with their forehead. Our German needs to work on his angles, his anticipation, and his aggression.

What Newcastle faced was a side which had proved until recently to be sheep in wolves’ clothing. Timid and docile as opposed to hunters. However new boss Rob Edwards has a history of sorting out his defence – he did it at Middlesbrough – and his Wanderers had managed not to lose in their last three PL matches. Newcastle made it easy for that to be extended to four. A little bit of personal pride for their locals.

Wolves played a low block and United weren’t clever enough to find a way through the traffic. They had to go wide and get stuff into the box but when they did a lack of a robust, aggressive, attacking centre-forward cost them dear. United are powder puff rather than battering ram.

For much of the game they played at a slow tempo when they needed to inject some urgency, get at Wolves, not allow them to settle and stifle. The Mags were lethargic, insipid, tired and lifeless. Too many games and too few bodies to spread the load effectively.

Eddie Howe predictably stayed true to type. His substitutions were like for like which didn’t present Wolves with something new to throw them off kilter and disrupt their thinking. Woltemade was always going to be replaced by Wissa, not the two played together. Jamie Redknapp, analysing in the TV studio, wondered why Newcastle didn’t “mix it up a little bit”. Wolves were glad they didn’t.

If there was a slight consolation – clutching at straws – it was that United kept only their second clean sheet in their last 17 fixtures. However given the potency of the attack they faced it was scant reward.

United stagger home to face PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night on the resumption of the Champions League and then high flyers Aston Villa on Sunday in a dress rehearsal for their FA Cup tie (away of course). Then comes their grand tour.

Players back from injury would be a help. So would a raid into the transfer window. However can we see either in the immediate future? The cry for help can be heard from every Geordie throat.