Newcastle closes the Premier League gap

PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS

 

Tuesday, January 31
Swansea	1-1	Chelsea	Recap
Spurs	3-1	Wigan	Recap
Wolves	0-3	Liverpool	Recap
Man Utd.	2-0	Stoke City	Recap
Everton	1-0	Man City	Recap
Wednesday, February 1
Villa	2-2	QPR	Recap
Sunderland	3-0	Norwich	Recap
Blackburn	0-2	Newcastle	Recap
Bolton	0-0	Arsenal	Recap
Fulham	1-1	Bromwich	Recap
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Newcastle boss Alan Pardew conceded his side rode their luck in coming away from Ewood Park with a 2-0 victory over Blackburn that lifted them to fifth in the Barclays Premier League table.

A Scott Dann own goal in the 12th minute put the visitors ahead, but they had to survive a wealth of Blackburn pressure, including a David Dunn penalty that was saved by Tim Krul in the 43rd minute, before Gabriel Obertan made the points safe in injury time.

Pardew praised the attitude shown by his players as they bounced back from Saturday's FA Cup defeat by Brighton, saying: "With the loss of (Yohan) Cabaye this morning and so many key players out, I think we knew coming here it was going to be very difficult.

"We talked about it before the start of the game, to be resilient and strong. Blackburn put everything in your box. We had to be strong and we were, but we had some fortune in the game, something I didn't think we got at Brighton, and sometimes that can make a difference."

Cabaye appealed against a charge of violent conduct for a clash with Brighton's Adam El-Abd on Saturday, but the Football Association rejected that and he must sit out two more matches, a decision that frustrated Pardew.

"I am disappointed, especially with everybody saying they don't think there's any intent in there and the FA still decide to (ban him)," he said.

The opening goal was a major slice of luck for Newcastle, with Ryan Taylor's 25-yard effort looking comfortable for Paul Robinson before it hit Dann and flew into the opposite corner.

But Rovers only had themselves to blame for failing to take a host of chances, most crucially when Dunn placed his penalty far too close to Krul after Danny Simpson had been penalised for barging into Anthony Modeste.

Newcastle shored things up at half-time, with James Perch replacing Hatem Ben Arfa, but Blackburn still had more than enough chances to earn at least a point, Modeste, Dann and Mauro Formica all guilty of bad misses.

And Obertan rubbed salt into the wound in injury time, showing Rovers how it should be done by clinically finishing off a swift break.

For Blackburn boss Steve Kean, it was another costly defeat that kept his side mired in the relegation zone, and the circumstances only made the result all the more frustrating.

The Scot said: "I think we had enough chances to win three games, never mind one. We didn't start the game well, but after the deflected goal we controlled the last 30 minutes of the first half.

JANUARY TRANSFERS

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"In that respect we were happy, we just felt we snatched at a few chances and didn't show enough composure in front of goal. We've just got to take that one on the chin, sometimes the performance and chances don't always equal a result."

Kean again left out captain Christopher Samba, deciding he was still not in the right frame of mind after seeing a transfer request turned down, but loan signing Modeste was heavily involved on his full debut.

Kean said of the Bordeaux man: "I think Anthony did well. He was unlucky not to get a goal, he probably had enough chances to get a hat-trick, but each time it fell to him and it didn't happen, maybe he just tried a little bit too hard.

"But I think he showed enough tonight that he's going to add something to our squad. He didn't know he was going to play until the very last minute because David Goodwillie had flu so maybe just a little bit of over-excitement on his part."

Dunn has been one of Rovers' most reliable performers this season and Kean was certainly not about to criticise the midfielder for missing the spot-kick.

He added: "David's really disappointed but he showed enough character to take it. Sometimes you have to take your hat off to the goalkeeper, who I think on the night made a lot of good saves.

"I wouldn't blame my players at all, I thought we had a really good go at it and if we can do that against a team like Newcastle then we'll win enough games."