Premier League: Stoke 2 Newcastle 1

Stoke came from behind to beat Newcastle 2-1 in an entertaining second-half of football at Britannia Stadium.

Newcastle had the first chance of the game with James Perch brushing off a challenge and letting fly from distance but his shot was always curling away from Asmir Begovic’s goal.

The goalkeeper had to be alert to gather a scuffed left-footed shot from Vurnon Anita as the Magpies were starting to find holes in the Stoke defence early on.

Charlie Adam came the closest to opening the scoring after Davide Santon gave away a free kick. The midfielder’s set-piece flicked off defender Mike Williamson onto the post and out of play.

This seemed to awaken the Potters and they went close again moments after, this time Glenn Whelan’s free kick curled over the bar as Stoke started to turn the screws.

Peter Crouch had to be substituted after a collision with Fabricio Coloccini left him with blood streaming from his nose and Kenwyne Jones came on to replace him.

The match finally opened up in the second half when Newcastle opened the scoring through Papiss Cisse.

Cheikh Tiote dispossessed Glenn Whelan from around 30 yards out before finding Demba Ba, who’s long-range effort was spilled by Begovic into the path of Cisse who rolled the ball home.

Cisse almost grabbed another when he nipped in behind the defence to meet a long ball, sprinted past Robert Huth but could only shoot straight at Begovic.

The game was becoming more and more open at both ends of the pitch with Jonathan Walters again beating his man and forcing Tim Krul to make a fine diving save on the volley but he fluffed his lines with the rebound.

Despite the pressure from Stoke looking for an equaliser, it was Newcastle who almost doubled their lead with 15 minutes left.

Another over the top ball found Ba and Begovic had to make a brilliant save to keep the ball out as it was destined for the bottom corner.

The Magpies were set to rue those chances though as Stoke scored two inside five minutes.

Walters got the better of Krul in the 81st minute, planting his header into the top corner out of his reach following a cross from substitute Cameron Jerome.

Three minutes later and the hosts were in the lead in typical Stoke fashion. The ball was hit long and into the path of Jones who nodded down for Jerome who then smashed it past Krul.