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Jason Meller at Daily Telegraph |
Newcastle (0) 1 Fulham (0) 0
Papiss Cisse claimed his latest stoppage-time winner for Newcastle United to help ease their fears of relegation fron the Premier League.
It pays not to leave St James' Park early these days, and so once again it proved, as for the fourth occasion this season, Cisse earned victory in added time.
Fulham were good value for a point, and looked to have weathered the storm as the hosts struck the frame of goal three times in the second half.
However, Cisse followed up his winners against West Bromwich Albion, Anzhi and Stoke City here this season with a typically predatory strike that gave the visitors little time to respond.
The Senegal international left Fulham's players slumped on the turf to a man after a fierce finish past Mark Schwarzer from 10 yards when a mishit shot from Yohan Cabaye fell invitingly for the lurking forward to claim his 12th goal of the season.
Until Cisse's intervention to seal a fourth consecutive home league win , it looked like Newcastle would miss an opportunity to climb away from the battle for Premier League survival.
Substitute Vurnon Anita saw a long-range effort strike Emmanuel Frimpong and clip the crossbar just before the hour. Schwarzer's right hand upright then proved Fulham's saviour, as Yoan Gouffran rose to meet a Sylvain Marveaux corner, the ball brushing off defender Sascha Riether, stationed on the line, en route, before the rebound fell to Cisse, whose follow-up struck the same post and bounced to safety.
Cisse had earlier curled an effort narrowly wide from 20 yards, before the forward was guilty of a lack of vision when, before the interval, he fired over when a simple pass would have released unmarked team-mate Marveaux clean through on goal.
It was by no means one-way traffic, with Tim Krul producing fine saves in each half, a one-handed stop to keep out a header from Dimitar Berbatov, the unmarked forward meeting a John Arne Riise free-kick 12 yards out, in the wake of a brave block from the Dutchman to deny Stanislav Manolev's close-range effort on the turn.
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who had earlier almost sliced a cross from Damien Duff into his own net, was similarly alert to block a goal-bound shot from Bryan Ruiz as the Fulham forward looked to finish a swift three-man move from the edge of Fulham's own box before the break.
Shola Ameobi should have done better when heading wide from a Danny Simpson cross late on, before Schwarzer saved well low to his left as Moussa Sissoko met Anita's cross with a firm header from eight yards. The Australian, however, was powerless to prevent Cisse from claiming the contest's only goal to seal a much-needed three points for the hosts.
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