Teenager Jermaine Jenas fired Newcastle to an 11th successive Premiership win at St James' Park to close the gap on second-placed Manchester United to just two points. But they were made to fight all the way to the whistle by Sam Allardyce's relegation-haunted side, who turned the tables after the break to put Shay Given's goal under intense pressure.
The crucial goal came on 18 minutes when Craig Bellamy's collected Steve Caldwell's long ball out of defence and laid a pass into Jenas' run for the teenager to smash home from close range.
Meanwhile, West Ham remain rooted to the foot of the table after losing 4-2 to Charlton at The Valley. In a bruising London derby, Glenn Roeder's men opened the scoring in fortuitous fashion when Edouard Cisse's shot deflected off Richard Rufus on 19 minutes.
However, Claus Jensen struck a superb 25-yard free-kick equaliser after 42 minutes and Scott Parker slotted home from 12 yards three minutes later to put the home side in front. Parker added a second after the break, and despite a 62nd minute own-goal from Mark Fish, Radostin Kishishev made it 4-2 on 90 with his first goal for Charlton from close range.
Filed by Shane Murray
