Stoke City 2 Newcastle Utd 1:Newcastle United's fourth consecutive Premier League defeat looked unlikely when Papiss Cisse belied his lack of form by putting the Magpies ahead, but late strikes by Jonathan Walters and Cameron Jerome preserved Stoke City's formidable home record, and increased the pressure on Alan Pardew.

Newcastle began reasonably well. Vurnon Anita and Jonas Gutierrez pushed forward to link with Cisse and Ba, and though a fine diagonal 50-yard pass from Ba which put Cisse into space eventually came to nothing, both ambition and delivery were impressive. At the back, however, the visitors showed early cause for concern, most notably when Glenn Whelan’s free kick from the right was missed by Coloccini, hit Mike Williamson’s shins and rebounded gently off Tim Krul’s left-hand post.

Whelan’s volley from 30 yards brought the crowd to life but was always going wide, and it was only towards half-time, shortly after Peter Crouch had been substituted with what looked like a cut mouth, that Stoke began to build a modicum of pressure.

The second half could not have begun any better for Newcastle, or worse for Asmir Begovic. Ba’s low shot from around 25 yards did swerve, but Stoke’s goalkeeper allowed the ball to rebound away for Cisse, following up just in case, to shoot in off the post.

Walters saw a shot punched clear by Krul, but Newcastle had suffered relatively few alarms when Jerome found a fine cross from the right, and Walters glanced a header past Krul. Now City had the momentum, and Jerome, keen to make a point about his lack of opportunities, duly made it by being in the right place when Kenwyne Jones won a header. Jerome turned the ball past the goalkeeper to earn victory.

Guardian