Stoke City was indebted to Jack Butland for its battling 0-0 Premier League draw with Newcastle United at St James' Park.

The England international goalkeeper pulled off a string of superb saves to keep the scores level while at the other end Jonathan Walters missed the best chance of the game, failing to turn in a fine Charlie Adam cross.

Newcastle is now unbeaten in five at home against Stoke, but without a win in its last four Premier League clashes with the Potters.

Mark Hughes welcomed back his captain Ryan Shawcross, who made his first Premier League appearance of the season after a persistent back problem.

Aleksandar Mitrovic came closest for the home side when he hit the post with a glancing header but the result does little for Steve McClaren's men, who remain rooted in the bottom three.

Newcastle was looking for a reaction to last weekend's 3-0 derby defeat to Sunderland and it started well with Ayoze Perez and Mitrovic linking up, but the Serb's shot was saved.

Stoke had a shout for a penalty in the fifth minute when Paul Dummett clipped Bojan Krkic's heels, but referee Roger East was not interested and replays showed the contact to have taken place outside the box.

The visitor was seeking a third straight away Premier League win and should have taken the lead after 15 minutes. Adam's superb cross evaded Chancel Mbemba, but Walters was unable to get a telling touch when it looked easier to score.

Mitrovic was at the heart of Newcastle's best play and Butland was lucky to see the striker's header from Moussa Sissoko's cross bounce back off the post.

Perez went close two minutes into the second half but his shot from 20 yards curled just wide.

Georginio Wijnaldum - scorer of four goals for Newcastle in its last home game against Norwich City - then brought a smart save out of Butland with a free-kick.

Stoke was threatening on the break and Rob Elliot was soon called into action for the first time, saving superbly from a Walters header after a fine Marko Arnautovic cross. Walters thumped the rebound wildly over.

Butland, the hero in Stoke's League Cup penalty-shootout win against Chelsea in midweek, was keeping his team in the game and he made an outstanding save to deny Sissoko after the France midfielder had been played in by Wijnaldum. From the resulting corner, Mbemba thudded a header narrowly wide.

In the 58th minute Butland was called upon once again, parrying a 20-yard drive from Perez around the post as Newcastle started to dominate.

Butland was by far the game's outstanding player and he showed razor sharp reflexes to tip over a drive by Sissoko with seven minutes to go, before palming over substitute Jamaal Lascelles's header as both sides had to settle for a point.