Keegan has held Manchester United in their own backyard previously in his managerial career.

But never has a team of his achieved a draw away to Sir Alex Ferguson's side with such a performance.

Obafemi Martins opened the scoring midway through the first-half, only for Darren Fletcher to equalise from the restart while the visitors were temporarily reduced to 10 men.

Keegan recalled the fixture in August 1993 which saw Andy Cole claim Newcastle's first Premiership point, but that result – also a 1-1 draw –does not compare with yesterday's showing.

He said: "I got a draw with Fulham once, and (with Newcastle) when we had Nicky Papavasiliou with the shirt we couldn't get the name on.

"With both of those games, you came away and thought we were a bit fortunate, but I think we thoroughly deserved a point. We generally gave a good account of ourselves.

"We caused them a lot of problems, and a lot of times in football you get what you deserve."

However, Keegan admits he had a heart-stopping moment when Wayne Rooney flashed an injury-time free kick just wide of Shay Given's goal.

He added: "Three minutes (added time) went up. I don't know how many (referee Mike Riley) played, but it seemed like a long time.

"You just thought: 'We don't deserve not to get something'. I was pleased to see it go wide, but from where we were sat, we didn't know where it had gone."

Keegan believes the performance was the blueprint for the season, believing he can send his team out to play the same kind of game when they take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium later this month.

"We go to Arsenal next, and if we could go there and play the same way, we might get something there as well," said Keegan.