Newcastle rediscover winning touch despite off colour display

Matchwinner: Papiss Cisse scores the only goal of the game

After a gut wrenching defeat against Arsenal, Newcastle needed to return to winning ways, and they did just that as they edged to an unfashionable win over Norwich City.

In the end, Papiss Cisse's 11th minute strike proved to be enough to see off a gutsy Canaries side, but it was a far from vintage display from the Magpies, hindered by the absence of Cheick Tiote, who missed the contest with a thigh injury.

Manager Alan Pardew opted to abandon the 4-4-2 formation deployed at the Emirates last Monday in favour of a 4-3-1-2 set up. Jonas Gutierrez was moved to the unfamiliar position of left back while James Perch and Danny Guthrie partnered Yohan Cabaye in a three man midfield. Hatem Ben Arfa kept his place in the side playing in behind the front two of Cisse and Demba Ba.

The decision to change shape looked to have been an intelligent one in the early stages as Newcastle dominated. Cisse should have opened the scoring inside the first ten minutes when he was put through on goal  by Cabaye's excellent lofted ball over the Norwich defence. However Cisse failed to get enough elevation on his effort to lob the onrushing John Ruddy, who was able to make a comfortable save.

Ruddy could do nothing to prevent Cisse's next effort however, as the Senegalese international timed his run to perfection to meet Gutierrez's perfectly weighted delivery with a deft flick that flew past the Norwich stopper and into the top corner of the net.

That should have opened the floodgates, Norwich had offered little going forward and appeared fragile in defence. Ruddy was called into action on a number of occasions, denying both Ba and Cisse with two more fine stops.

However, the home side's momentum quickly dwindled, Newcastle begun to look sloppy in possession and allowed Norwich to exert an increasing amount of influence on the contest. Jonny Howson should have levelled after Mike Williamson was caught in possession, but still Paul Lambert's men struggled to create any clear cut opportunities despite the added possession they enjoyed.

If Ruddy had prevented the game from becoming a rout in the First Half, then his counterpart Tim Krul certainly stopped the Canaries from equalising in the Second Half. The Dutchman made two fantastic saves in quick succession, first denying Anthony Pilkington before thwarting Zak Whitbread with a superb fingertip save after the defender had rose highest to head Elliot Bennett's well placed cross towards goal.

That proved to be the end of Norwich's threatening forays into the Newcastle half and the Geordies were able to comfortably see out the game. Pardew's substitutions played a key role in the Magpies' ability to ensure that the game finished without further incident. Davide Santon was brought on for Ben Arfa and Shola Ameobi replaced Cisse.

These changes settled down a Newcastle side that had been largely erratic in the second period, Ameobi's proficiency in holding the ball up is a continual calming influence on a Magpies unit that has found maintaining possession increasingly difficult in more recent outings.

The game meandered towards its conclusion and Newcastle had earned the three points they so desperately craved, still the nature in which he Magpies achieved victory left a lot to be desired. The Geordie faithful are hopeful that the end of this season will bring a return to European Football for Newcastle, and another morale boosting triumph at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday would go a long way to making that dream a reality.