West Bromwich Albion edged Newcastle United 1-0 at The Hawthorns on Monday night.
Tony Pulis' Baggies landed their first victory in six outings courtesy of Darren Fletcher's 78th-minute header.
The Albion captain found space in the box to get a tame header to Claudio Yacob's cross only to see Magpies debutant Karl Darlow make a meal of the save as the ball somehow squeezed past him.
The triumph kept the Baggies in 13th place, pushing them six points clear of the bottom three, as Steve McClaren's Toon remained 18th following a second straight loss.
MATCH OVERVIEW
West Bromwich Albion: 1 (Darren Fletcher 78')
Newcastle United: 0
The Hawthorns, West Bromwich - 26,313
TALKING POINTS
- Were Albion lucky to land maximum points in this one? Newcastle hit the woodwork on two occasions before the Darlow blunder.
- Can Newcastle blame their debutant for the defeat or should they have taken their chances earlier?
WHAT'S NEXT?
West Brom host Stoke City on Saturday as Newcastle head to Arsenal in search of a vital victory.
TWITTER INSIGHT
Good 3 points excellent lads #boingboingbaggies
— James McClean (@JamesMcC14) December 28, 2015REACTION: The captain speaks to https://t.co/6wuhjKS0XX following defeat at West Brom https://t.co/l51NtsEJ9R#NUFCpic.twitter.com/D8Ew0eMKh7
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) December 28, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
West Brom's Pulis on the win and injuries to Jonas Olsson and Victor Anichebe:
“We deserved that win. We kept going & we got there. We lost Jonas & Vic today but hope they'll be ok for Stoke."
Newcastle boss McClaren on the result and non-penalty call for Aleksandar Mitrovic:
"It is a game we never deserved to lose.
"It is a blatant penalty, I have seen it three or four times and the referee when he sees it again will realise he has made the wrong decision. The defender has grabbed Mitrovic around the waist and has put him off his shot before we lost to a soft goal at the end."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
155 - West Brom have attempted a league-low 155 shots (inc. blocked) in the Premier League in 2015-16. Confined.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 28, 201520 - Darren Fletcher's goal vs Newcastle is the 20th in his Premier League career. Arrowed.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 28, 2015