The first meeting of two Champions League-winning managers outside the top flight saw Newcastle display promotion credentials but Villa punished their profligacy and battled to a draw

When Newcastle United previously visited Villa Park, on the penultimate day of last season, they drew 0-0 against the already relegated Aston Villa, slipping closer to the drop themselves as a result. Of the 11 United players who started that day, only two began here – Paul Dummett and Jamaal Lascelles – which says something about the level of turnover at the club over the summer.

Rafael Benítez may have come away with another point on Saturday – and, once more, a sense of frustration after his side missed a plethora of chances to add to Tommy Elphick’s first-half own goal only to see Villa’s Aaron Tshibola nod in an 89th-minute equaliser – but now there is a sense of a club beginning to return to the front foot after four years of back-pedalling.

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No expense has been spared in the post-relegation rebuilding process. Matt Ritchie (£12m), Dwight Gayle (£10m), Grant Hanley (£5.5m), Ciaran Clark (£5.1m), Matz Sels (£5m), Mohamed Diamé (£4.5m) and Daryl Murphy (a reported £4m) have all arrived for fees that would make most other Championship sides wince, though the spree was in large part funded by around £70m of departures.

For those signings it was a mixed afternoon, just as it was for Newcastle as a whole. Diamé, a peripheral figure throughout, and Gayle both missed simple chances that would have taken the game beyond Villa, while Sels was a shaky presence in goal and arguably at fault for the home side’s late leveller (the usual calm and considered social media response to which appeared to persuade Sels to delete his Twitter account on Saturday evening). Hanley did not make it off the bench.

Ritchie, though, was a tigerish presence on the right of midfield, while Clark, facing his former club, dealt well with Jonathan Kodjia, Villa’s new £15m striker.

“We have players with experience of the Championship, they know what it means to be in the Championship,” said Benítez, whose side sit in fifth with nine matches played. “The key for me is to be sure that we are consistent. We have to keep calm and work hard. Today we could see a great team in the first half, a great team creating a lot chances, that is what you are looking for. The final score means that we didn’t take our chances.”

This fixture was something of a rare bird. For Villa (founded 1874) and Newcastle (founded 1892) this was only the fifth meeting outside the top flight, and their first since 1937-38. And it was the first ever meeting of two Champions League-winning managers in English football outside of the Premier League, Benítez having steered Liverpool to the trophy in 2005, Roberto Di Matteo doing so with Chelsea in 2012.

This was a far cry from those career high points, though there were times in the second half when the 32,062 inside Villa Park cranked up the volume to a level usually reserved for more glamorous occasions. Newcastle’s cowed reaction to the increasing intensity irked Benítez as much as Villa’s response pleased Di Matteo, though with six draws in their past seven games, not to mention Jack Grealish’s extra-curricular issues, the Italian’s team do not yet share the same sense of renewal.

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As the Newcastle midfielder Isaac Hayden pointed out, there is no time to dwell on disappointment. While plenty of his players have Championship experience, Benítez does not and he will be learning fast that fixtures arrive in a rush. Norwich City, the league leaders, visit St James’ Park on Wednesday.

Newcastle’s last two seasons in the second tier – 1992-93 and 2009-10 – both ended with the title. The expectation is that they will make it three in a row. The evidence of Villa Park, though, showed they are capable but that it will be no procession.

Talking points

• Derby County’s dismal start to the season continued with a 2-1 home defeat to fellow strugglers Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, their fourth defeat in five games. Their form seems to be stuck in a vicious circle at present, with poor performances brewing anxiety in the stands, and that nervousness in turn infecting those on the pitch. “In the first half we looked as though we were paralysed with fear,” said the Rams manager, Nigel Pearson.

• At the top, the aforementioned Norwich recorded their fourth successive league win with a hard-fought victory over Burton Albion. Alex Neil was under a little pressure after his team’s 3-0 defeat against Birmingham at the end of August but a quartet of wins since has the Canaries perched at the summit. Neil is never the most effusive and this weekend was no exception: “We weren’t at our finest but these games are tricky.”

• Tammy Abraham: 10 goals in his last 11 games now for Bristol City.

• In League One Bury are proving a surprise package and also picked up a fourth win in succession to move up into second spot behind Scunthorpe United. Their manager, David Flitcroft, spent the summer collecting experienced free agents from other clubs in the north-west – Chris Kirkland from Preston, Leon Barnett from Wigan, Neil Danns and Paul Rachubka from Bolton and Chris Brown from Blackburn – and, after a slow start, the investment in seasoned campaigners seems to be paying off for a club for whom a top-half finish would represent excellent progress.

• Two Football League teams remain unbeaten in 2016-17, though neither are exactly thrilling their way through the season. Bradford City secured a fifth successive draw with a 0-0 against Bolton – their record of three wins and six draws from nine games is enough to put them fourth in League One such is the tightness of the division. Meanwhile in League Two, Carlisle have an identical record after a 1-0 win over Wycombe. Cambridge’s win over Newport in the fourth tier means only one team are yet to win this season: poor old Coventry City, who are rock bottom of League One after a 2-1 defeat to Gillingham.