7 mins Mo Diame sent DeAndre Yedlin scampering down the United right and he did well to pull the ball back to Salomon Rondon. The number nine's first shot on goal was blocked by goalkeeper Asimir Begovic but he reacted sharply to volley the rebound into the Leazes goal. 1-0

40 mins A pinpoint crossfield pass from Ki picked out Kenedy down the left and without further ado, the Brazilian arced a superlative ball into the box for Salomon Rondon to sweep past his alleged marker and meet with the firmest of headers, propelling the ball high into the net. Fantastic. 2-0

45+6 mins A fine save by Martin Dubravka led to a harmless-looking flag kick from the Strawberry Corner by Ryan Fraser. That found the head of a stooping Jefferson Lerma, who directed a looping effort that dropped beyond the 'keeper and the leaping Paul Dummett at the back post. 2-1

Half time: Magpies 2 Cherries 1

Full time: Magpies 2 Cherries 1

Rafa Benitez:

Eddie Howe said:

"We made it difficult for ourselves by not hitting the standards we have throughout the season. It is up to us to make sure we reflect and grow from the experience.

"I don't think we performed well in the first half, we were disappointed with that. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb.It doesn't help when you concede a goal so early in the game away from home because it gives the crowd a lift and they are immediately in the match.

"We didn't react well to the goal going in. Adam's injury would not have helped that and the game became very fragmented. It looks like he's got a knee injury, it looks quite serious. 

"It did disrupt the flow of the game - the long delay - and obviously the players were concerned so that didn't help. We were certainly far from where we wanted to be in that moment of the game.

"I was pleased with aspects of the second half, we were on the front foot more and we had the ball in some dangerous areas. We will use this time to assess the injuries and come back fresh. You are judged game by game and today was a disappointment: we feel we are good enough to beat anybody in the division if we perform well.

"We didn't hit our best levels of performance, got beaten and we know this league is ruthless enough to do that to you. The challenge for us is to go away, analyse the game and make sure we come back a better team." 

Having belatedly reached a level of fitness that gave Newcastle fans a glimpse of why Rafa Benitez was intent on signing him, Salomon Rondon struck twice on Saturday to seal back to back victories for the first time this season.  
 
Memories of previous Gallowgate crowd heroes were evoked as the big centre forward summoned up his best Les Ferdinand impression to put United two up on 40 minutes, having earlier notched a first league goal for the club with a low shot forced in at the second attempt.

If the Venezuelan played the part of Sir Les for what proved to be winner though, the assist was a Brazilian twist on David Ginola in the form of a sublime early centre from the left wing by Kenedy. 

Managing his second 90 minutes in successive matches, Rondon came close to completing what would have a memorable hat-trick, but flicked a header wide from another inviting cross after the interval and then saw a run and shot tipped away by the Cherries goalkeeper later on. 

The third goal that would have given some much-needed breathing space failed to arrive, but the striker's battering ram performance frightened the life out of Bournemouth and was integral to the win that left United fourteenth in the table going into the international break.

The apparent burden of wearing our number 9 shirt hardly seems to be an issue for the Venezuelan - although finding one big enough to fit him did look to be a problem only a few weeks ago.... 

Like the rest of his colleagues though, he finally looks fit for purpose and today we showed some genuine attacking intent - aided by someone actually physically leading the line rather than the equivalent of a front six. 

The beauty of both home goals today lay not in their execution but in the fluency of movement and incisive passing: early crosses to a striker can be beneficial, who knew eh? Similarly, actually getting far enough into the opposition box to be able to pull the ball back was a novelty for those watching, Yedlin's assist for the opener the footballing equivalent of Halley's comet for us this season.

Having had walk-on roles a week earlier, Ki and Fabian Schar justified their starting places, while Federico Fernandez was again impressive. Add in improved displays for Ayoze Perez and Mo Diame plus what now seem routine heroics from Martin Dubravka and this was a day of positives.

Behind the pleasure - and relief - at winning matches though is an ongoing frustration at having taken so long to achieve any measure of balance in the side this season. Transfer intransigence resulted in an irrelevant pre-season campaign of sharpening up players for other clubs before beginning a testing sequence of matches with the equivalent of pop guns against cannons.  

Arriving in search of a third successive victory here on the back of successive away wins, Eddie Howe's side must have known it wasn't their day after conceding an early goal and then losing defender Adam Smith to a bizarre self-inflicted injury: shaping to take a free kick deep in his own half then falling to the ground in agony with a knee problem that saw him stretchered off.

That did bring an additional eight minutes at the end of the half and deep into that period, the Cherries managed to halve what was by now a two goal deficit after Newcastle conceded from a corner kick for the fourth time this season.

Equally though, the black and whites could have been out of sight; Kenedy bearing down on the 'keeper but unable to get anything on his shot, Callum Wilson bringing a great save out of his own 'keeper and Perez then putting a low effort across goal and just past the far post.

The second half saw further chances at both ends; Matt Ritchie and substitute Christian Atsu both coming close to finding the net against their old clubs. Bournemouth meanwhile made and missed some chances of their own, Wilson and Jordon Ibe unable to hit the target when well placed.

Another tense finish saw Rondon and Lewis Cook booked for a tussle as Isaac Hayden and Ciaran Clark arrived in an attempt to shore up the defence. Aided by the wayward positioning of Yedlin in both a back four and five, the visitors stuck to their approach of attacking down the left flank but mercifully couldn't quite get sight of goal.

The appearance of Jermain Defoe to the inevitable booing did nothing to ease the pressure but in truth he offered little and it was former Magpie Dan Gosling who was denied a second successive late leveller against us, bundling the ball over the line only to be correctly ruled offside.

However achieved, back-to-back victories against sides that we've struggled against in recent seasons are worthy of praise and in terms of relieving pressure and boosting morale, priceless.

Doing anything more than enjoying a match in isolation though is trickier; the efforts of last season's tenth place finish betrayed by the absence of ambition. There are a lot of average, adequate teams in this league and sadly we're content to be one of them - albeit on an austerity budget.  

While the rest of SJP gloried in our throwback second goal, the watching owner was doubtless more enthused by the fact a free transfer and two loan signings created and scored it. Beat Burnley in a fortnight and he'll probably try and sell Jonjo Shelvey and Jamaal Lascelles in January...

Biffa