The young Magpies found themselves trailing early in the league fixture at Whitley Park after Conor McLeod opened the scoring, but Sean Neave brought Newcastle level just after the half-hour mark with his 15th goal of the season at second-string level.
The draw leaves Newcastle’s youngsters in 20th place, a position they are likely to finish in unless Everton beat Ipswich Town on Friday night.
Robbie Stockdale made two changes to the side that won 3-1 away at Manchester United, with Alex Murphy and Logan Watts coming in for Dylan Charlton and Scott Bailey. Charlton was unavailable as he began a two-match suspension.
Matheos Ferreira came close to extending his impressive scoring run to five goals in as many league games at Under-21 level. The Ashington-born forward, who hit a hat-trick in a 4-3 win over Aston Villa in February, saw a low effort inside the box tipped onto the post by Wolves goalkeeper Alfie Brooks.
Wolves took the lead in the 15th minute through McLeod. After Dexter Lembikisa’s effort was saved by Aidan Harris, Dani Ángel’s follow-up was blocked into McLeod’s path, and he finished neatly into the top corner.
Logan Watts nearly scored his first Under-21 goal when he met Mason Miley’s free-kick with a strong header, but the North Shields defender could only send it over from a crowded area.
Newcastle equalised in the 33rd minute through Neave’s powerful finish. After Rory Finneran’s shot was controlled by Neave, the England Under-19 international struck confidently into the bottom-right corner—his eighth goal in his last seven PL2 matches.
After the break, Murphy tested Brooks from distance on the hour mark, but the Wolves keeper comfortably dealt with the free-kick.
Newcastle were then fortunate not to fall behind again when Okoduwa hit the bar. Following a strong driving run from Makenzie Bradbury, he set up the midfielder, whose first-time effort rattled the crossbar.
Neave came close again when he met Murphy’s cross with a stretching header, but he could only steer it over.
Late on, Anthony Munda nearly snatched a winner after linking up with Neave inside the box, but his effort was deflected wide following a good run down the right by the forward.
From the resulting corner, Neave almost scored again, but Brooks reacted quickly to push Finneran’s cross away.
Miodrag Pivaš also went close, heading Finneran’s corner goalward, but Brooks spilled it before recovering just in time to prevent the ball crossing the line.
In the closing stages, Neave had one final chance to secure all three points, cutting in from the right and firing low, but Brooks was again equal to it.
In the end, both sides shared the points on Tyneside, with Newcastle’s opponents for the PDL play-off last-16 still to be confirmed.
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