Debutant Papiss Demba Cisse came off the bench to score the winning goal for Newcastle United against Aston Villa this afternoon.
The £9m January signing from Freiburg was called into the action in the 11th minute when Leon Best was forced to leave the pitch with a knee injury.
However, it was Cisse's international teammate Demba Ba who opened the scoring. Ryan Taylor's initial shot fell to Ba, who spun quickly to turn the ball past Shay Given from close range in the 30th minute.
Newcastle would not hold the lead going into the break though as Robbie Keane levelled up proceedings in first-half stoppage time. Charles N'Zogbia was the creator, crossing for the Irishman to claim his 150th league goal in English football.
Cisse spurned a good chance to put Newcastle in front after 62 minutes when he headed Danny Guthrie's cross over the bar.
He made amends nine minutes later though when he controlled a cross from Jonas Gutierrez before sending a half-volley into the top left hand corner of the net.
Ciaran Clark and Gary Gardner had chances to haul Villa level as the match entered stoppage time, but on both occasions Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul was on hand to parry their efforts to safety.
Liam Apicella
