Aston Villa 1 - 2 Newcastle: Pressure on Paul Lambert

By JOHN CURTIS
Published on 30/01/2013 00:57

NEWCASTLE registered their first away win of the campaign to plunge fellow strugglers Aston Villa deeper into the Barclays Premier League relegation mire.

SCORERS:

Aston Villa - Benteke (49, pen)

Newcastle - Cisse (19), Cabaye (31)

Referee: M Dean

Attendance: 30,334

First-half goals from Papiss Cisse and Yohan Cabaye put Newcastle in command and ended a sequence of 17 games without a victory away from St James’ Park in all competitions this season. All Villa could manage in reply was a Christian Benteke penalty early in the second period.

Villa manager Paul Lambert received the backing of his chairman Randy Lerner on Monday but the alarm bells continue to ring loudly for his side. Villa have now lost their last three home league games against fellow strugglers in Wigan, Southampton and now the Magpies.

“We paid the price for starting too slowly,” lamented the Scot. “We just never got going in the first half. The second half, that’s the way to play football.

“The first goal was really disappointing; the second goal, you sometimes can’t stop them – it was a terrific strike – and then you are facing an uphill battle. But I couldn’t fault them for the way they played in the second half. It is the first time I’ve seen a standing ovation when you’ve been beaten, especially at home.

“I just said to the players ‘you can’t play like that in the first half and turn that performance in during the second half’.”

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew handed debuts to the French duo of Moussa Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran and the former, also a target for Villa this month, set up the opening goal for Cisse.

His side dominated the opening 45 minutes with Sissoko quickly settling into his central midfield role. Then Newcastle showed enough know-how and experience to take the sting out of the second period after initially threatening to be over-run by a rejuvenated Villa.

Lambert started Benteke and Darren Bent up front for the first time in a league match since September. Villa looked to have strong claims for a penalty after 14 minutes after Benteke ran on to a pass from Bent. His low cross appeared to strike the hand of Newcastle defender Fabricio Coloccini but referee Mike Dean waved play on. But it came as no surprise when Cisse broke the deadlock for Newcastle after 19 minutes with his seventh goal of the campaign.

Sissoko supplied the telling pass which was seized on to by Cisse. He kept his composure and drilled a low shot past Brad Guzan into the corner of the net.

Villa tried to retaliate and former Newcastle player Charles N’Zogbia came close to equalising three minutes later. His 25-yard drive contained too much power for Tim Krul but crashed against the woodwork.

But Newcastle doubled their lead after 31 minutes with a stunning strike from Cabaye. Villa skipper Ron Vlaar’s headed clearance from a Jonas Gutierrez centre fell straight to the midfielder, whose volley from just outside past the box flew past the despairing dive of Guzan.

Lambert made a double half-time substitution with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann replacing Bent and Joe Bennett. They began the second period with more impetus and were given a lifeline after 48 minutes when Mathieu Debuchy conceded a penalty after a clumsy challenge on Agbonlahor when going away from goal. Up stepped Benteke to send Krul the wrong way from the spot for his 12th goal of the campaign. But Villa failed to make the most of their territorial dominance.

Aston Villa: Guzan, Clark, Vlaar, Baker, Lowton, Westwood, Bannan, N’Zogbia, Bennett (Agbonlahor 46), Benteke, Bent (Weimann 46). Subs Not Used: Given, Ireland, Holman, Bowery, Lichaj.

Newcastle: Krul, Debuchy, S Taylor, Coloccini, Santon, Perch (Shola Ameobi 69), Cabaye, Gouffran (Anita 74), Sissoko (Yanga-Mbiwa 79), Gutierrez, Cisse. Subs Not Used: Harper, Williamson, Bigirimana, Sammy Ameobi.