- Bournemouth in bottom three
- Magpies 1st away win in 13 games
- Perez scores only goal in 1st half
- Cherries without a win in 6
Newcastle United beat Bournemouth 1-0 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday as the Magpies executed a perfect smash and grab victory at the expense of the Cherries.
Goalkeeper Rob Elliot put in a fine display for Newcastle, denying Joshua King on three occasions in the first half alone and the away side rode their luck in the rain on the South Coast and snatched the win courtesy of Ayoze Perez’ first half strike.
With the win Steve McClaren’s Newcastle climb up to 16th on 10 points which lifts them out of the bottom three as Eddie Howe’s injury-hit Bournemouth slip into the relegation zone.
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Bournemouth started well as Harry Arter powered forward and fed the ball to King who forced Elliot into a smart stop at his near post. A slip by Chancel Mbemba nearly let in King soon after but Elliot raced off his line to clear the danger with Newcastle struggling to get going.
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King’s personal duel with Elliot continued throughout the first half as he had another effort saved well by Newcastle’s goalkeeper following more patient build up play from Howe’s side. However, the Cherries were made to rue missing those chances and in the 27th minute Newcastle went ahead. A neat flick from Aleksandar Mitrovic found Georginio Wijnaldum and he poked the ball towards Perez who squeezed the effort through Adam Federici and into the net. 1-0 to the Magpies who snapped up their first real chance of the game.
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Before half time Matt Richie’s free kick was headed goalwards by King but Elliot was there to deny him again as Newcastle lead 1-0 at the break. At the start of the second half Bournemouth continued to press as Ritchie’s header was saved by Elliot and minutes later Junior Stanislas flashed another great chance over the bar. If only Callum Wilson or Max Gradel weren’t injured and available to provide the Cherries with a cutting edge in the final third.
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As the second half wore on Bournemouth continued to boss possession and Andrew Surman went down in the box looking for a penalty but Lee Mason waved away the appeals. Fabricio Coloccini headed just over in the final 10 minutes after a rare Newcastle attack which was there second attempt on goal in the game. Bournemouth piled on the pressure with 16 corners in the game to Newcastle’s zero, but they couldn’t find an equalizer as the win saw the Magpies jump out of the relegation zone and above the Cherries.