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Cameron Jerome had the freedom of the Newcastle area to make it 2-1 after Karl Darlow's failed attempt to clear

Norwich City and Newcastle United had to settle for a draw after a frantic Championship game at Carrow Road.

Newcastle had led after just 23 seconds thanks to Ayoze Perez's placed effort.

Jacob Murphy's far-post finish made it 1-1 before goalkeeper Karl Darlow gifted Norwich the lead as he scuffed a clearance and Cameron Jerome tucked in.

Matt Ritchie hit the bar for Newcastle before they deservedly levelled through Jamaal Lascelles' sweet finish, keeping them top after Brighton also drew.

The draw saw seventh-placed Norwich slip further behind sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday, who won to move themselves four points clear of Alex Neil's side with a game in hand.

The hosts were stunned when Perez had time and space to tuck in a right-footed shot in the opening minute, and a lively Newcastle could have doubled their lead but John Ruddy saved well from Aleksandar Mitrovic.

A fine throw from keeper Ruddy then led to Norwich levelling from an exquisite team move, with Murphy applying the close-range finish at the far post after Jerome had shown good strength to get to the byeline and square the ball.

The former Birmingham and Stoke forward then capitalised on Darlow's howler to score the simplest of his 10 league goals so far this season and the Canaries were on course for what would have been a fifth win in six games.

But the visitors began to dominate after half-time and Ritchie's shot struck the underside of the crossbar as they controlled possession and created the greater number of chances.

Lascelles' crisp, left-footed effort from the far post after a neat team move was enough to earn the Magpies a point, though they could have won it late on when Jonjo Shelvey scuffed a shot wide and Perez was denied by Ruddy.

Norwich manager Alex Neil:

"To be honest, there are mixed emotions after that. Obviously, you are not expecting to concede a goal in the first minute and we were really nervy in the first five minutes.

"But once we got our goal and then got ahead, I thought we were excellent - the response from the players was top class.

"In the second half, we started okay and then we started to drop deeper and deeper to protect what we had and the frustrating thing from our point of view is that we didn't see it out."

Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez:

"I thought we responded brilliantly to going behind - the character of the players, and their reaction to the setbacks, was the most positive thing for me tonight.

"We had a lot of supporters in the corner and I am sure they will have enjoyed the effort the players put in.

"It was a very open game - good for the fans but perhaps not for the managers. Norwich might think differently but I think we had enough chances to have won it - but you can't always take three points and if we can take four points every two games we will go up."