Top scorer Owen did not have a clear-cut chance in Saturday's goalless draw at the Riverside Stadium.

And there were some who felt the club's captain, and not Obafemi Martins, should have made way for second-half substitute Mark Viduka.

Martins had struck the woodwork, and his petulant reaction to his substitution was one of the main talking points of the Tees-Tyne derby.

Kinnear, however, pointed to six-goal Owen's work off the ball, and suggested that had one of United's few chances fell to the 28-year-old on his 400th club game, then Newcastle might have left Teesside with all three points.

"I thought some of the comments about Michael Owen's display were a bit out of order and well over the top," said Kinnear.

"Michael had a quiet game by his high standards, but the coaching staff on the bench could see how hard he was working, and we felt that he did a lot of unselfish running for the team.

"This was backed up when we had a look at the video after the game, studied each individual performance, and saw what Owen had done.

"Our big regret at Middlesbrough was that none of the chances we created came Michael's way, but this wasn't necessarily his fault.

"He kept running into goal-scoring positions, but he just never got the ball, and this is something we have to work on."

Owen has not been out of the news since the weekend, with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez publicly rubbishing a Sunday newspaper story which suggested he was planning to take him back to Anfield.

Kinnear, meanwhile, hopes to meet with managing director Derek Llambias over the next 48 hours, and one item on his agenda will be Owen's contract, which runs out in the summer.