Cisse snatches win for Magpies
Papiss Cisse deflected home a fortunate injury-time winner for Newcastle as Alan Pardew's men recovered from Romelu Lukaku's equaliser for West Brom to grab three Barclays Premier League points with a 2-1 victory at St James' Park.
Substitute Sammy Ameobi struck a left-foot shot from the edge of the box which took a heavy deflection off the back of Cisse and was cruelly diverted past Baggies keeper Ben Foster to seal the home side's win.
Demba Ba had netted his seventh goal in nine starts to give the Magpies a 35th-minute lead, but the dangerous Lukaku looked to have snatched the visitors a point when he headed home a Zoltan Gera cross 10 minutes into the second half.
The Baggies, clearly not lacking confidence despite their defeat to Manchester City last weekend, had showed their attacking intentions from the start with Lukaku looking particularly lively down the left.
But the home side had the first real chance in the 14th minute when Shola Amoebi - who had been preferred to Cisse in the starting line-up - dug out a deep cross from the right which found Ba unmarked to flash a close-range header inches wide.
Ba had an ambitious penalty appeal turned down after tangling in the box with Albion captain Jonas Olsson two minutes later, and as the home side began to dominate possession Davide Santon brought a fine save out of Ben Foster with a long-range drive.
But the visitors had a fantastic chance to go ahead in the 26th minute when Graham Dorrans charged over the halfway line on a swift counter-attack and fed Lukaku, who was clean through on goal but saw his left-foot shot flapped out for a corner by the advancing Tim Krul.
Ameobi blazed a 32nd-minute chance into the upper tier before the hosts finally broke the deadlock three minutes later, Ameobi flicking a long Krul goal-kick into the box where Gareth McAuley made a mess of things and let Ba nip in to prod his seventh goal in nine starts past Foster.
Lukaku had another superb chance five minutes before the break when he was put through by Youssouf Mulumbu, but once again could find no way past the impressive Krul.
After a slow start to the second half, Lukaku finally got the goal his performance deserved in the 55th minute when he squeezed in between Santon and Fabricio Coloccini to nod home a Zoltan Gera cross from close range.
Magpies boss Alan Pardew responded by making a double substitution, bolstering his forward line with the introduction of Cisse for the tiring Ameobi, while Gabriel Obertan replaced Danny Simpson.
Clarke, meanwhile, made a surprising change with the increasingly dangerous Lukaku hauled off and replaced by fellow striker Shane Long, which appeared to have the adverse effect of bringing an abrupt end to the visitors' best spell of the game.
Ba hobbled off on 72 minutes to be replaced by Sammy Ameobi, and shortly afterwards Albion came close when Mulumbu shot down the left flank and set up a shooting chance for Markus Rosenborg, who hesitated for too long on the edge of the box.
But the Baggies had regained their composure and began to put the hosts under real pressure, only Krul's alertness preventing the busy Rosenborg getting the vital touch on a deep cross by Long from the right flank.
Rosenborg was again unfortunate not to reach a cross from the left by Gabriel Tamas while at the other end a cross by Gabriel Obertan was too strong for Cisse, who could get no direction on it in front of goal.
But just when it looked like the Baggies had secured the point their performance deserved, Ameobi tried his luck from the edge of the box and Cisse diverted home the winner to keep Newcastle's fine home record on track.
Source: PA
Source: PA