Nick Woltemade believed he delivered a display worthy of making up for his own goal in Newcastle United's Tyne-Wear derby defeat during Saturday's 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

Woltemade scored twice at St. James' Park, opening the scoring in the fourth minute before doubling up 16 minutes later with a fine finish from Anthony Gordon's pinpoint cross. 

Indeed, the German international became just the fourth player to score twice within the opening 20 minutes of a Premier League game, after Robbie Fowler for Liverpool in November 1994, Paul Scholes for Manchester United in October 1995, and Sergio Aguero for Manchester City in February 2019.

However, Eddie Howe's team were unable to hold on to their two-goal advantage, with Reece James' stunning 49th-minute free-kick hauling Chelsea back into the game. 

And the comeback was complete just after the hour when Joao Pedro latched on to Robert Sanchez's long punt forward before side-footing the ball into the bottom-right corner. 

But away from the result, Woltemade was pleased with his own personal performance, having turned into his own net during last weekend's 1-0 defeat to rivals Sunderland. 

He also finished the contest with team-high totals for shots (three) and touches in the opposition box (five) before being replaced by Yoane Wissa in the 73rd minute. 

"Last week was not a good week or a good game for me. When I came into the [EFL Cup] game on Wednesday, the crowd sang my name, which was lovely," Woltemade said.

"It was amazing, and I knew they still liked me even when I scored the own goal. I wanted to give a good performance today and I think I did.

"I just want to say thank you to the fans for still being good with me."

However, the Newcastle striker was left to rue his team's late collapse, a recurring theme for the Magpies, who missed the chance to climb into the top half of the table. 

No side has lost more points from winning positions in the Premier League this season than Newcastle (13, level with Brentford ahead of the matches later on Saturday). 

It was also the first time the Magpies failed to win a league match in which they led by two or more goals since August 2022 against Manchester City (3-3), ending a run of 40 successive wins from such a position.

"Not good. We played an amazing first half with great energy and pressed really well," Woltemade added. 

"But in the second half, we still did quite well, but it's unlucky we conceded two goals in two situations from which we normally don't concede.

"If you saw how we played in the first half, we can win against every team. I don't know why we conceded two goals. It happened.

"We'll keep working on it and maybe next time, we can play 90 minutes like that."

It was a sentiment echoed by Newcastle boss Howe, who saw his side have seven shots (five on target) to Chelsea's four (none on target), six big chances to none, and 1.97 expected goals (xG) to 0.24.

But in the second half, Enzo Maresca's team led in shots with nine (four on target) to four (none on target) and on xG with 1.02 to 0.29.

"Difficult because we played so well today. An outstanding performance, especially in the first half. Devastated for the lads that we didn't get the win," Howe said. 

"[The first half] was a reminder of how good we can be. Athletically so good, and the press was excellent for us too, and we were a real threat.

"It's further evidence that we are improving. We need more of that."