Newcastle United have won their first away Premier League game in 13 against Bournemouth and move out of the bottom three at the expense of the Dorset club.
The Cherries, who came into the game just above the relegation zone, almost took the lead when Joshua King forced Rob Elliot into an early save before Matt Ritchie dragged another effort wide of the target moments later.
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King continued to be a thorn in Newcastle's side in the opening stages as he nearly punished a mistake from Vurnon Anita, but was thwarted by Elliot.
After the Norwegian had a penalty appeal waved away by Lee Mason, King wasted another opportunity as he appeared to create a shooting chance on his left foot, but in his attempts to get the ball onto his favoured right foot, United were able to snuff out the danger.
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Instead, the Magpies scored against the run of play as Aleksandar Mitrovic's backheel played in Georginio Wijnaldum before Ayoze Perez took possession off his Dutch teammate and poked the ball into the net, despite Adam Federici getting plenty of glove on the shot.
Adam Smith tried to provide an instant response for Eddie Howe's side, who had lost all of the previous games in which they had conceded first. However, his clean strike flew inches over the crossbar.
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Within seconds of the restart, Bournemouth were again applying pressure to the Newcastle backline, with Ritchie's header forcing another save out of Elliot before Dan Gosling nodded another chance off target.
Ritchie and King then both missed further opportunities as the Cherries continued to be frustrated in attack.
In the latter part of the game, Newcastle began to get a tighter hold on proceedings and could have scored a second when Fabricio Coloccini headed over from close range, with only United's second attempt on goal.
However, the Magpies managed to hold on for a victory, which moves them above Bournemouth and Norwich City for the time being.
Chris O'Keefe
