Newcastle 4-1 Wolves: Sunday Mirror match report

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Newcastle managed to win a traditional Saturday afternoon fixture for the first time since August 2008, surely ending any lingering fears of relegation.

But it was a miserable afternoon for Wolves boss Mick McCarthy, whose side have not won a top-flight game on Tyneside since the day he was born – February 7, 1959.

And the decisive ending of Wolves’ four-game unbeaten run leaves Newcastle seven points clear of the relegation zone with seven games left.

The Magpies needed another crucial strike by 12-goal skipper Kevin Nolan to calm their early nerves, but in the end won comfortably. However they will now be without their talisman for the matches against Aston Villa and Manchester United.

Goals either side of half- time from the impressive Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands seemed to be enough.

But Sylvan Ebanks-Blake pulled one back on 58 minutes – giving the visitors hope – however substitute Stephen Fletcher then missed a great chance to ramp up the tension.

Newcastle restored their three-goal advantage in stoppage time with a brilliant breakaway goal from Jonas Gutierrez.

Delighted Toon boss Alan Pardew said: “Football is a religion up here. There was a lot of pressure on us. Everyone on Tyneside has been reminding me it was a game we had to win.

“But it was a great day for us. We played well and won well with Joey Barton having an outstanding game and Shola Ameobi also doing very well.

“Barton could have been skipper today because Kevin Nolan was ill before the game, but he played like a captain today. He was tremendous.

“I don’t even want to think about the Villa game because of our shortage of numbers. Our coach John Carver and myself could be putting our kit on.

“But another win and a couple of draws and we should be okay.”

McCarthy was furious with his side’s sloppy defending for Nolan’s opener and believes that set the tone for his side’s defeat.

The Wolves boss said: “Our defending for the first goal was like the Keystone Cops

“If you saw that goal on a Sunday morning when your kids were playing you wouldn’t be happy.

“But what hurt me is the spin people up here put on the game. They portrayed us a s a two-headed monster, coming to kick people.

“Yet the worst tackle was that premeditated one by Kevin Nolan.”

Wolves picked up only three of the eight bookings dished out and were second best in every department.

They were in trouble from the minute Nolan put the home side ahead on 22 minutes.

A route-one ball from Danny Simpson was cleverly headed on by Ameobi as the Wolves central defence opened up for Nolan to gallop through and poke the ball past Wayne Hennessy, who was hesitant coming off the line.

That was the signal for McCarthy to abandon his 4-5-1 formation and throw on another striker in the shape of Stephen Fletcher for the ineffectual Nenad Milijas.

Nolan picked up a costly 10th booking of the season just before the break for a blatant professional foul on Adam Hammill.

But Wolves conceded a sloppy second on half-time.

Gutierrez fed Lovenkrands on the left after being gifted possession. The Dane pinpointed a delightful cross to the far post where Ameobi headed home powerfully for his eighth of the campaign.

A glorious piece of inter-play between Barton and Coloccini set up a simple tap-in for the third by Lovenkrands.

After a great 1-2 Coloccini sprayed a delightful pass back to Barton on the right and the home midfielder picked out a perfect low ball to allow Lovenkrands to slide home a third from six yards.

But just when it looked as if the game was over as a contest Ebanks-Blake scored from Matt Jarvis’ cross and Fletcher scorned an inviting chance to pull another back from a Jamie O’Hara free-kick, heading into the side netting with the goal at his mercy.

But in the dying seconds Newcastle grabbed a fantastic counter-attacking goal. Substitute Stephen Taylor blocked a Karl Henry effort, then stormed forward to put Gutierrez in possession .The Argentinian produced a dazzling run and deadly finish to put the seal on a huge win.