NEWCASTLE UNITED VS CARDIFF CITY

REPORT | NEWCASTLE 2-1 CARDIFF CITY

Cardiff City fell to a 2-1 defeat against league leaders Newcastle United at St James' Park on November 5th.

The home side started strongly, and opened the scoring inside three minutes following some fine work from Aleksandar Mitrovic. The powerful forward beating his defender before freeing Christian Atsu to slot in at close range.

The league leaders were playing free flowing football from the opening whistle, with Ben Amos called upon to deny Paul Dummett, Yoan Gouffran and Mitrovic all within the opening twenty minutes

United didn't have it all their way though, with Craig Noone going close to levelling the match on 22 minutes with a driven left footed volley that flew just past Karl Darlow's left post. Neil Warnock's men went close again on 31 minutes when Sol Bamba headed over from Junior Hoilett's corner kick.

The Bluebirds fought hard to gain a foothold in the match against the impressive hosts, but were setback further with half-time drawing close. Yoan Gouffran beating Ben Amos with a well taken low effort from just inside the box to double Newcastle's advantage.

In the second half, the match opened up with both teams looking to grab the all-important third goal of the match. Rickie Lambert, Christian Atsu, Aleksandar Mitrovic all going close inside the first fifteen minutes of the second period. Warnock's men continued to press Newcastle, and were undeniably the stronger team throughout much of the second half. Noone and Bamba both saw efforts go close on 64 and 67 minutes respectively before the aforementioned winger appeared to be taken down inside the penalty box on 69 minutes only for the referee to wave away the Cardiff penalty appeals.

A second half performance that deserved a goal was rewarded with 13 minutes remaining as substitute Peter Whittingham netted his third goal of the campaign. Found by fellow sub Marouane Chamakh following some good hold-up play in the penalty box, Whittingham let fly from 20-yards with a powerful, low effort that Darlow was unable to stop.

On 82 minutes, Bluebirds captain Sean Morrison went down in the Newcastle box while being held by Mitrovic. The linesman's flag was raised, but a free kick to the hosts awarded despite the protests of the City players.

Four minutes of added time was called with Newcastle trying to keep hold of the ball and stop further Cardiff attacks. Hoilett managed to reach a flick-on from Morrison but was unable to turn the ball home from an acute angle. Neil Warnock's side battling from the very first minutes against a strong Newcastle side, but it was the league leaders who took home all three points from this exciting Sky Bet Championship match played out in front of 51,257 people.

FINAL SCORE: NEWCASTLE UNITED 2-1 CARDIFF CITY (Atsu 3' Gouffran 44'; Whittingham 77')

Cardiff City: Amos, Bennett, Peltier, Bamba, Morrison, Richardson (Whittingham, 74), Ralls, Gunnarsson, Noone (Harris, 74), Lambert (Chamakh, 72), Hoilett. Subs Not Used: Wilson, O’Keefe, Gounongbe, Manga.

Newcastle United: Darlow, Clark, Dummett, Lascelles, Shelvey, Hayden, Perez, Gouffran (Anita, 72), Yedlin, Atsu (Diame, 88), Mitrovic. Subs Not Used: Sels, Colback, Hanley, Lazaar, Gayle