Barton nets in Magpies triumph

Barton converted a ninth-minute penalty and the Magpies looked to have secured Joe Kinnear's first victory as interim boss when Obafemi Martins headed home a second three minutes before the break.

However, substitute Ishmael Miller pulled one back for the visitors with 25 minutes remaining, and the home side had to scrap all the way to the whistle for the points.

The Magpies had already forced Baggies keeper Scott Carson into a smart reaction save, when Barton slid the ball into the box for Shola Ameobi, who tapped it past defender Ryan Donk and was then promptly upended by the defender.

Barton had only one thought in his mind, just as he had done at Fulham last season when he scored his only previous goal for the club. His strike was firm, Carson went the wrong way, and the ball nestled in the net.

West Brom then had the better of the game and Robert Koren expertly turned Jonathan Greening's pass into the path of James Morrison to leave a flat-footed home defence in no-man's land, but as he has done so often in the past, Given came to the rescue with a fine save to preserve his clean sheet.

By contrast, Newcastle looked more than capable of adding to their tally as the returning Jonas Gutierrez, Damien Duff, Ameobi and Martins repeatedly stretched West Brom.

Habib Beye skied a shot high over the bar after Ameobi had carved Mowbray's men open down the left with 37 minutes gone, but the Senegal international made amends within five minutes.

The full-back, supporting Duff down the right wing, skipped past Paul Robinson to drill a cross into the middle where Martins, with the help of a deflection off defender Jonas Olsson, powered a header home.

Morrison was proving a key figure as the Magpies laboured in the second-half, but it was Koren who opened the door for Miller to drag his side back into the game, wrong-footing Fabricio Coloccini to allow the striker to round Given and slide the ball into the empty net.