By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor
At the Vitality Stadium
AFC Bournemouth 0
Newcastle United 1 (Perez 27)
Newcastle United picked up their first away win of the 2015/16 campaign with a 1-0 victory at AFC Bournemouth in the Barclays Premier League.
Ayoze Perez's first half effort was enough to secure all three points for the Magpies, although the scoreline failed to tell the full story of a match which was dominated by the hosts.
However, thanks to Perez's third goal of the season and an inspired performance by goalkeeper Rob Elliot, United performed a smash and grab routine to return to Tyneside victorious.
Bournemouth heaped pressure on the visitors' goal from the off but Elliot saved well from Joshua King - three times - and Dan Gosling in the first half before Perez struck just short of the half-hour mark, ending a fantastic team move with a clinical finish.
The newly-promoted Cherries refused to lie down and laid siege on Elliots's goal in the second period, only for the goalkeeper to stand firm again and record a second successive clean sheet.
The result lifts Newcastle out of the relegation zone, and they have a two-week break before entertaining Leicester City at St. James' Park on Saturday, 21st November.
Elliot had shaken off a thigh injury and was called into action with less than four minutes on the clock.
Cheick Tiote halted Harry Arter's run with a perfectly-timed sliding tackle, only for the loose ball to run invitingly into the path of Joshua King.
The former Blackburn man held off the attentions of Chancel Mbemba and worked himself a yard of space before pulling the trigger on an fierce angled drive. But Elliot reacted well, flying to his left to tip the ball behind.
It wasn't long before the stopper was called upon again, this time racing off his line to thwart King with his legs, after Vurnon Anita's back-pass was missed by Mbemba.
King's pace was causing all sorts of problems and the striker had a penalty appeal waved away following a clash with Fabricio Coloccini, shortly before leaving the Magpies skipper on his backside and aiming another strike goalwards, which Elliot parried to safety.
Newcastle weathered the Cherries' storm and then, on 27 minutes, in their first meaningful attack and completely against the run of play, took the lead.
It was a fantastic flowing move of patient passing which eventually saw Paul Dummett skip inside off the left touchline and find Aleksandar Mitrovic 20 yards out. The Serbian striker cleverly back-heeled into the path of Georginio Wijnaldum, who immediately offloaded to Perez.
The Spaniard had three defenders around him but had the composure to switch the ball onto his left foot before poking past Adam Federici, who got a hand but couldn't keep it out.
That stunned the hosts but they were soon back on the front foot in search of an equaliser, only to be denied by Elliot.
Again it was King, this time with his head, glancing Matt Ritchie's right-flank free-kick towards the far corner, until the intervention of the Republic of Ireland international's fingertips.
Elliot was proving to be an impenetrable force and so it proved again in the 38th minute. When United failed to properly deal with Ritchie's corner, the winger was given a second bite of the cherry and sent an inch-perfect cross onto the head of ex-Magpie Gosling, who had lept above his marker at the far post.
Three yards out, Gosling's header was firm and downwards but Elliot was more than equal to it, ensuring the man who spent four years on Tyneside was denied a goal against his former employers.
The second half was 28 seconds old when Elliot was at it again, springing up to turn Ritchie's powerful header over the bar, as Bournemouth raced out of the blocks again.
The Cherries continued to pile on the pressure but despite enjoying the lion's share of possession, were unable to break down a stubborn visiting rearguard.
Papiss Cisse and Florian Thauvin were introduced from the substitutes' bench, replacing Mitrovic and Perez, and the pair set about adding a different dimension to United's play in the final third.
And in the 83rd minute Thauvin almost created a second goal for the Magpies, winning a free-kick wide on the right before delivering the resulting set-piece on to the head of captain Fabricio Coloccini, whose effort was tipped over by Federici.
With time ticking away, Ritchie fired a 25-yard free-kick harmlessly off target and that was to prove the last chance of any note, as Newcastle held firm to secure three huge points.
AFC Bournemouth (4-3-3): Adam Federici; Adam Smith, Simon Francis, Sylvain Distin, Charlie Daniels; Dan Gosling, Andrew Surman, Harry Arter (Tokelo Rantie 79); Matt Ritchie, Joshua King (Yann Kermogant 73), Junior Stanislas (Lee Tomlin 73)
Subs not used: Artur Boruc, Joe Bennett, Steve Cook, Shaun MacDonald
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Rob Elliot; Daryl Janmaat, Chancel Mbemba, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Paul Dummett; Moussa Sissoko, Cheick Tiote, Vurnon Anita (Kevin Mbabu 90), Georginio Wijnaldum; Ayoze Perez (Florian Thauvin 77), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Papiss Cisse 63)
Subs not used: Freddie Woodman, Jamaal Lascelles, Yoan Gouffran, Siem de Jong
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
Bookings: AFC Bournemouth - Arter (69), Smith (82); Newcastle United - Janmaat (44), Tiote (88)
