Newcastle were denied a deserved share of the spoils at Manchester City when a late winner saw them lose 2-1 at Eastlands. Manchester City, without being at their best, gained a hard fought three points against a battling Newcastle who suffered the early blow of Hatem Ben Arfa being stretchered off with a suspected broken leg.
Add to that a couple of refereeing decisions which went against the visitors and it clearly was not going to be their day.
City took the lead when Mike Williamson was harshly adjudged to have fouled Carlos Tevez in the box, and the Argentinean scored from the resulting penalty.
Late-on Newcastle had their own strong appeal for a penalty, and possible leveller, turned down by the officials.
But Newcastle restored parity within six minutes with a powerful drive from Jonas Gutierrez.
All square it was at half-time but substitute Adam Johnson settled the outcome after his introduction with a superb low drive.
Man City scorers: Tevez (pen) 18, A Johnson 75 Newcastle scorers: Gutierrez, 24
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Venue: Eastlands, Manchester Attendance: 46,067
MAN CITY 25 Hart 04 Kompany 17 Boateng (yellow card) 19 Lescott 28 Kolo Toure (yellow card) 07 Milner 18 Barry (A Johnson 72) 21 Silva 34 De Jong 42 Yaya Toure (Adebayor 56) 32 Tevez (yellow card) (Vieira 86)
Substitutes 01 Given, 38 Boyata, 11 A Johnson, 24 Vieira, 09 Adebayor, 14 Santa Cruz, 27 Jo
NEWCASTLE 26 Krul 02 Coloccini (yellow card) (Campbell 36) 03 Jose Enrique 06 Williamson (yellow card) 14 Perch 04 Nolan (Carroll 76) 07 Barton 18 Gutierrez 24 Tiote 23 Ameobi 37 Ben Arfa (Routledge 7)
Substitutes 33 Soderberg, 05 Campbell, 16 Taylor, 10 Routledge, 17 Smith, 09 Carroll, 11 Lovenkrands
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