Premier League - Cisse scores on debut as Newcastle beat Villa
Papiss Demba Cisse had a dream debut as his goal gave Newcastle United a 2-1 win at home to Aston Villa, putting his side fifth in the Premier League.
Cisse, signed from Freiburg in January but unavailable until now because of the African Cup of Nations, rifled in an expert half-volley with 18 minutes left to add to Senegal team-mate Demba Ba’s opener, which had been cancelled out by Robbie Keane's 150th goal in English football.
The result sees Toon move above Arsenal into fifth as the Magpies chase an unlikely Champions League place.
An entertaining game was marred by apparently serious injuries to Newcastle pair Leon Best and Ryan Taylor.
Both incidents yielded positive notes for Toon though as Best’s 13-minute withdrawal saw new signing Cisse make his hotly-anticipated debut, while Taylor’s brave intervention resulted in the opening goal.
That strike - Ba’s 16th in the Premier League this season - came about when Davide Santon’s cross was only half-cleared by the erratic Richard Dunne: the loose ball fell invitingly for Taylor, who flew into a blood-and-thunder 50-50 with Stephen Warnock, flicking it inside for Ba to rifle in the finish from close range.
It came at a cost as Taylor was hauled off on a stretcher, his right knee heavily strapped having been caught by Warnock, but Newcastle later said it was likely to be heavy bruising.
Until that point Villa had been the better side as Darren Bent’s clever runs off the last man caused problems, but Tim Krul was twice on hand to save well from the England striker.
But if the Magpies scored somewhat against the run of play, so did Villa: after their goal Toon had chances through Cisse and Ba, the former denied by Alan Hutton’s block while the latter flicked a clever finish just over.
So it was karma that, five minutes into injury time, Keane was rewarded for his fine touches and movement with a close-range volleyed finish after former Magpie Charles N’Zogbia silenced the boo-boys with a fine run and cross from the left. It was the Irishman's 150th goal in England and his third in four league matches since joining Villa on loan from LA Galaxy.
The second half started scrappily, though. Villa were forced to withdraw their main ball-playing midfielder Stephen Ireland, but that suited the naturally more direct hosts, who - led by the all-action Danny Guthrie - went close through Cisse and Gabriel Obertan, who headed over and had a shot blocked respectively.
Cisse really should have buried that free header from Santon’s excellent cross, but he made up for it in style with a debut goal on 72 minutes.
Jonas Gutierrez’s centre was missed by Dunne, who yet again kicked air rather embarrassingly: he could not have accounted for what followed though, as Cisse controlled expertly before rifling a left-foot half-volley into the top corner from the edge of the box.
It was the dream debut the home fans had been urging since they cheered his entrance, and the goal boosted his confidence further: he was denied a second half-volleyed goal by Carlos Cuellar’s block.
Villa rallied late on as Krul was forced to bat away Ciaran Clark’s long-range strike, while Clark’s replacement Gary Gardner should have done better than fire well wide when Stiliyan Petrov put him in.
Gardner, recalled from his loan at Coventry City, was having a real impact with his runs from deep, denied a goal when his close-range header from Barry Bannan’s cross was somehow kept out by Krul despite a deflection off Mike Williamson.
But Toon stayed calm, defending in numbers and running the ball into the corners as they held on for yet another win at home to boost their run for European football next season.
Comment 143 - 162 of 162
159 a magpie topped himself years ago when they lost nowt else in newcockney land
Rumours that Pardew maybe in line for Emgland job
Mag, if we get a result at Spurs, I'll believe in a top four finish that little bit more!
If Newcastle get a result at Spurs you Mags are going to be unbearable.
Sunderloaned could also keep Arsenal away from us!!
Mag, possible but not probable!!
John: if Everton get a result against Chelsea and NUFC nick a win at Spurs, it will put you 4th. Is that scenario beyond the realms of reality?
Having known many football fans worldwide the mindset of Newcastle supporters is amazing.When they win they cant stop talking , when they lose they dont comment on that but criticise everybody else. I enjoy watching all the EPL its the best entertainment in world football.
Mag, 147, totally agree mate. I doubt we can get much higher than 5th although Chelsea are dropping points but if Sunderloaned can keep climbing, we're going to have one of the best derby games in a long while with the result meaning a bit more than it usually does.
I don't think you will educate the masses though, there's far too much hatred. A lot of fans take it all far too serious and wish each other relegation and worse but personally, I'd rather we were both battling it out for a European place and more, could you imagine a North East cup final some day??
Anyway, one more thing, Newcastle is better than Sunderland though isn't it, you have to admit that Maggy boy!!
151 What drivel and waffle its of no importance to anybody but an idiot and a few obsessed northern cockneys
Clint magnum, apparently its common knowledge Martin O'Neill was quoted in the papers as saying "we were never interested in Cisse!"!!
Alot of Co. Durham support Newcastle. If you were to draw a rough line (there is a lot of overlap) then somewhere between Jarrow and South Shields in the east, drawing through Washington (with the bulk on the Sunderland side), across the A1 between Birtley and Chester-le-Street, then Southwards through the middle of Stanley, continued Southwards through the middle of Tow Law with Consett on the Newcastle side, then Northwards slightly to the outskirts of Stanhope, before diving Southwards around Crook, Bishop Auckland, Sedgefield and then heading Northwards, to the coast splitting Peterlee. Everything inside that circle is predominantly Sunderland. Everything North and West of that line is predominantly Newcastle and everything South is M'bro, Darlington, Hartlepool. That's very rough though. I know Newcastle supporters living in Shiney Row, M'bro supporters in Consett and Sunderland supporters in Newcastle but they are not the majority.
guy - you are incorrect when you say folks living on the south side of the Tyne are not "Geordies". Try telling that to the people on Gateshead high street or South Shields. They are about as geordie as a geordie can get. And I repeat "mackem" was indeed a geordie shipyard term used to describe riveters (caulkers). For instance, Durham miners (who mainly supported Sunderland) were never referred to as mackems!
Great result, the two Dembas look like a hell of a strike force. Get Cabaye and Tiote back and give Ben Arfa a run in the team and we could have a good end to the season. Again, full credit to Pardew and his coaches, for getting us into a position most fans didn't think possible. We're not ready for the Champions League yet, but top 6 is now very, very likely. I'm sick of people saying we're lucky. 5th after 24 games is not luck, and as for the idea that Krul has made loads of saves to get us results - he's the goalkeeper, he's supposed to!
post 146 - when I watched MoTD last night I thought exactly the same... that was a straight red card according to the new rules that a host of players sent off in the Saturday games. I was surprised that it was not mentioned by anyone.
Can you all just relax and take a look at the PL table. In case you hadn't noticed there are 2 NE clubs in the top eight. Both teams deserve their position and are a match for any team in the league. There is no reason why both SAFC & NUFC can't go on and improve their positions.
I couldn't give a stuff how I talk or how I would've talked if I'd been born in feckin' Scotswood. I couldn't care less if my forefathers pledged allegiance to Scots or Germans, why does it bloody matter? How's about putting petty sniping aside a start behaving like... chaps? Roll on the derby let's hope its played fair and won hard.
@ Gollywagazoo: the term mackem comes from the Wearside accent and their penchant for saying "we mak em, they tak em. You are correct that the term has only been adopted by Mackems themselves in recent years, but it always applied to those from the Wear and NOT the Tyne (regardless of their footballing allegiance).
And small, really pedantic point: the most likely explanation for the term Geordies is that it stems from our loyalty to King George during the Jacobite rebellion, and as such applies to people from within the walled City of Newcastle. That means that the south side of the Tyne is not Geordieland. (The miners lamp story is false, as the first reference pre-dates the Davey lamp and lord alone knows where the slipway in Wallsend story comes from)
The tackle by Steven Warnock which resulted in Ryan Taylor being stretchered off was shocking and was missed or overlooked by the referee. Will the FA take action against Warnock as they did with Cabye or will they too turn a blind eye on a tackle that was much worse. Double dirty standards by the FA.
Charlie,
pathetic response, pathetic attempt to wriggle out of it and your input on the loan system was a crock. Bendtner has already stated that he would NEVER sign for you so ergo Bruce would NOT have been trying to sign him.
And once again i challenge you to show me ONE comment from a 'delusional' Geordie who claims we are in with a shot at a Champions League place; yet another untruth. You don't even have the Henrys to admit you were wrong. Our aim this season was 40 points and survival; we have already achieved that and so anything from hereonin is a bonus. You are as bad as that idiot with all the IDs, at least he doesn't try to hide his spite, jealousy and bitterness. You obviously know zip about football if you believe 42 points can be gained by luck. Speaking of luck. Weren't your mob 'lucky' to have 11 men on the pitch when your man deliberately handled the ball on the line? Weren't your mob incredibly lucky against Man City and Blackburn to name but 2.
Even after we beat you at SJP, no doubt you will have some excuse; yawn, yawn, yawn!
Pardew's done a great job.
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