Newcastle 2 - 1 Villa : Double D's fire Toons to victory
-
Newcastle United 2 Aston Villa 1: match report
Premier League game between Newcastle United and Aston Villa at Sports Direct Arena
Pick it out! £9million signing Papiss Cisse fires home Newcastle's winner against Aston Villa
Dream pairing: Demba Ba (right) and Demba Cisse celebrate as the two strikers fire Newcastle to victory
MATCH FACTS
Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Ryan Taylor (Obertan 33), Guthrie, Perch, Gutierrez, Ba (Shola Ameobi 90),Best (Cisse 14).
Subs Not Used: Elliot, Ben Arfa, Gosling, Ferguson.
Booked: Simpson.
Goals: Ba 30,Cisse 71.
Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Cuellar, Dunne, Warnock, Ireland (Bannan 46), Petrov, Clark (Gardner 84), N'Zogbia (Heskey 66), Keane, Bent.
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Weimann, Lichaj, Baker.
Booked: Dunne, Bent.
Goal: Keane 45.
Att: 48,569
Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).
They came to worship and pay homage to their new No 9 and Papiss Cisse delivered the goal and performance which lifted Newcastle United back into fifth and Champions League contention.
The £9million signing from Freiburg has been in this country for four days, but thanks to Senegal’s misadventures in Africa and Leon Best’s knee injury early in the game, his Barclays Premier League arrival came sooner than he or manager Alan Pardew had expected.
Cisse, 26, signalled his arrival with a sweetly struck half-volley into the top corner.
‘That goal makes the shirt lighter,’ Pardew said: ‘If you are going to wear that jersey you need a good start. From his overall performance I would think any Newcastle fan would be nudging their mate and saying, “We’ve got a good ’un here”.‘He is a big investment for the club and although Mike Ashley sanctioned it, it is the fans’ money and I like to spend it wisely.’Cisse’s Senegal team-mate Demba Ba marked his return from Africa with his 16th goal in 16 appearances, to put Newcastle in front.
Ba’s goal came after Villa failed to clear a cross into the area from the excellent Danny Guthrie, although Stephen Warnock’s desperate challenge wiped out Ryan Taylor, who touched the ball to Ba and suffered a nasty foot injury in the process.
Pardew said X-rays showed severe bruising and not a break.
Pardew, who heads to White Hart Lane in good heart said. ‘We can go to Tottenham and let our hair down. We will have a go and if we get beat, we get beat.’