I'm too sexy for my shirt...

Alan Pardew said:

"I'm overjoyed for the players, they have worked really, really hard today. The emotions at the end from Papiss and myself were because of the relief from all that.

"No money can buy how important that is to us as a football club. It was a fabulous goal and goes to show a team who won't give in and will battle to the end. I said to the team we just need to find a way and we did.

"I inherited that West Ham team in the Championship (in 2003) that had gone down on 42 points. You can't underestimate this year that it might be a points total like that you need, so we're far from safe yet.

"The whole bottom half is looking over their shoulder, so we've still got work to do.

"It was sheer relief - I was carrying all the stress of how important today's game was, so it was nice to jump in the crowd. I didn't do it intentionally, it was a moment that came into my head at the time. It's difficult when you do something like that. I've had a couple of occasions in the past where I've jumped in the crowd.

"I didn’t give up hope. We had a great period. Sometimes you know, when teams are hitting you on the break, and you haven’t got any ideas. But no, I felt we were in a good situation. We were pressing, and the crowd got involved. We just needed a half chance. Papiss made a chance out of nothing, really.”
 

For the third successive home game, the talismanic figure that is Papiss Cisse sent St.James' Park into raptures by conjuring up a winning goal deep into time added on. And like the efforts that saw off Stoke City and Anji, the priceless strike that accounted for Fulham came from close range, just when Newcastle looked like coming up short in their quest to record a vital victory.

Martin Jol's side arrived on Tyneside in their best form since 2010, looking to go six games unbeaten and capitalise on our hectic schedule by securing a fourth away win of the season to take them past the magic 40 point mark.

A cagey opening from both sides failed to inspire another 50,000+ crowd into vocal support - save for home fans abusing despised former Magpie, Damien Duff. However, Alan Pardew's depleted defence was then further weakened by the loss of Davide Santon, who pulled a hamstring. 

As the half hour mark approached though, signs of life among the black and whites emerged, Cisse sending one dipping effort just over the bar before seeing another miskick blocked and a third shot end up in the crowd. Fulham's best chance of a mostly moribund first half meanwhile arrived with six minutes remaining, their counter attack gained momentum when Yohan Cabaye failed to follow through sufficiently with his tackle. 

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa's timely block kept out former toon transfer target Brian Ruiz at the expense of a corner, before Tim Krul intervened when play resumed to deny Stanislav Manolev his first goal in English football with an instinctive block from close in.

United came close to breaking the deadlock on 53 minutes when substitute Vurnon Anita saw his shot from distance take a substantial deflection off Cheick Tiote lookalike Emmanuel Frimpong and strike the Fulham crossbar, with visiting goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer motionless.

Just over ten minutes later, the Gallowgate goal frame was twice struck again, Yoann Gouffran's header diverted on to a post by Sascha Riether's arm before Cisse struck the upright from the rebound - referee Kevin Friend ignoring loud handball appeals from fans and players.

Shola Ameobi and Adam Campbell appeared as United dominated play more and more, but more intelligent approach work failed to bring a breakthrough, Shola heading wide from a perfect position on 77 minutes. Hopefully he's keeping his powder dry for next Sunday. 

Cisse's fine header brought a sprawling save out of Schwarzer in the dying minutes of normal time, before yet more added time delight. We're struggling to recall a similar succession of late winners at any time in our attending lives and can only put it down to a praiseworthy trait of this side playing on and plugging right to the bitter end - something that some of their predecessors failed to do.

Alternatively, it could be argued that our inability to hold on to a lead looks to have developed a strategy of going ahead at the last possible second. It does though seem finally to have stemmed the tide of early leavers - the next trick is for United to start finding the net just before and after half time, to bring the scoffers and slurpers to heel.

Play belatedly restarted with Marveaux and Cabaye both hobbling, but Newcastle held on for their first league win in three attempts and consequently jumped above both Norwich and Stoke into thirteenth position - a position of relative safety that didn't look at all realistic when news of the mackems' half time lead Stamford Bridge at Stamford Bridge broke.

While Cisse and the rest of the outfield players took the applause at full time, the agility of Krul in tipping Dimitar Berbatov's goalbound header over his crossbar on 68 minutes was another key component of his side's win. 

The performance of Jonas Gutierrez was also a major plus for United, the second half seeing the welcome return of his touchline-hugging dribbles down the left touchline - despite having been pulled back into the left back slot. 

With the first leg of our high-profile home fixture trio successfully negotiated, attention now switches once again to the teams from the real and fake Stadiums of Light. Patience is Pardew's watchword for Thursday's Europa League test, but extends not only to the performance of his side but also the composition of it, in testing the forbearance of 50,000 fans dreaming of the 'Dam.  

While not quite finding ourselves in the desperate situation of earlier this season, there are enough fitness concerns for the club to regard Benfica as a distraction rather than an opportunity. An ultra cynic could make a case for 1-4 having been a better scoreline in Lisbon than 1-3, dampening the fires of expectation just that little bit further. 

It's not just those mythical bragging rights that are up for grabs on Sunday, but three prized Premier points. That's a fact not lost on the manager, who has gone from "I think that we are done" when his side reached 33 points  to "we've still go work to do" with 36 under his belt. 

Biffa