Premier League: Bolton 0 Newcastle 2

Newcastle United got their first three points in seven games thanks to a 2-0 victory over a disappointing Bolton on Boxing Day.

The defeat at the Reebok Stadium leaves Owen Coyle’s side just one point ahead of bottom side Blackburn, while Newcastle stay seventh.

The game awakened in the last 20 minutes of the tie, with Hatem Ben Arfa finally opening the scoring after coming on from the bench, before Bolton’s fate was sealed as Demba Ba poked in a second two minutes later.

A scrappy first-half saw little goal action from either side, with a couple of almost identical free-kicks the only highlights of a boorish 45 minutes.

Ryan Taylor and Mark Davies fired set-pieces for their respective outfits, with the opposing goalkeepers making smart saves to stop the efforts.

The second period of the game looked to mirror the first, with the exception of Newcastle seemingly getting closer to getting an opener.

Bolton looked to have no attacking spirit at all and were punished on 69 minutes as a great run from Ryan Taylor allowed the full-back to whip the ball in for substitute Ben Arfa to blast past Jaaskelainen, giving goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen no chance of getting to his low powerful effort.

Just two minutes later the Magpies had doubled their lead. A good run on the other side from Gabriel Obertan saw the Frenchman cross the ball in front of goal and onto the toe of Ba, who held off a defender to glance the ball into the top left corner of the net.

The hosts remained a desperate outfit looking for the slightest sniff on goal, but a lack of positive movement and uninspiring substitutions saw Bolton succumb to their 14th defeat from 18 matches this season.