Just when Newcastle looked set for victory after Jacob Murphy had borrowed Amar Dedic’s bow to arrow them into a late lead, they turned the weapon on themselves.After a week in which Dedic, the Bosnian defender, had made headlines when pursued by police for wandering around the Northumberland countryside with his hunting gear, the Geordies were ready to rob the good folk of West London after Murphy found the target 10 minutes from time.But less than three minutes later and they were picking the arrow from their own feet. William Osula failed to protect possession on halfway and Fulham broke. Then, with the ball bouncing around the goalmouth, it was Fulham substitute Rodrigo Muniz who pounced to punish Newcastle’s scruffy defending.Matthias Jaissle, the visiting boss, will probably take this, especially as the performance was much improved on the back of a run of four defeats in five matches. The second-half spirit also showed a response to a week of noise centred around dressing-room unrest, not to mention Dedic’s police drama. Newcastle would have won had master archer Harvey Barnes not missed a hat-trick of chances.The winger is the one player they would want those opportunities to fall to, given his quality in front of goal. But twice before half-time, when denied by Bernd Leno from close range, and then again when lashing wide after the break, he failed to give his side the lead.Murphy corrected his team-mate’s errant finishing when capitalising on a loose pass from Rodrigo Palacios and slamming into the bottom corner from 25 yards, but that Geordie joy was short-lived. Jacob Murphy thought he had won it for Newcastle after scoring late on at Craven Cottage Rodrigo Muniz netted moments later after sloppy defending from Newcastle, earning a 1-1 draw Matthias Jaissle’s side were much improved but must cut out the errors to win matchesThe draw keeps Newcastle and Alvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham in the bottom half of the table, and that is where they will likely stay. The first half, in particular, had very strong last-on-Match-of-the-Day vibes.Newcastle thought they had a 33rd-minute lead when Dan Burn stole in at the near post to flick home from Murphy’s low cross. What the officials had spotted at the far post was linebacker Yoane Wissa pinning defender Timothy Castagne, and so playing Burn onside. It was, just about, the right call.Fulham’s Josh King was included in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad on Friday, the club’s first Three Lions call-up in eight years. Did he play like a would-be England international? He was his side’s best player in the first half, even if that was a low bar to hurdle. One volley would have raised the roof had it gone in, so sweet was the connection from 20 yards. Lukas Hornicek needed every inch of his 6ft 6ins frame to dive and save. And that, too, was a recurring theme, Newcastle’s reliance on the big Czech to bail them out when giving up chances.Like Newcastle, however, Fulham simply weren’t good enough to take them.