Newcastle 2 West Brom 3

Paul Scharner's late winner handed West Brom a first league win at Newcastle for 34 years in a Christmas cracker on Tyneside.

The Austrian poked home an 86th-minute shot to give the Baggies a second away victory in five days and take them past the 20-point mark.

Demba Ba equalised twice and looked to have earned his side a point on 81 minutes with his second goal of the game.

The Magpies forward had cancelled out Peter Odemwingie's opener, only for Gareth McAuley to restore the Baggies' lead before the interval on the stroke of half-time.

West Brom's evening started badly when they lost Steven Reid to an apparent knee injury after just seven minutes, but things improved when they opened the scoring on 20 minutes.

A brilliant curling three-ball by Chris Brunt released Odemwingie, who held off Fabricio Coloccini and fired into the bottom corner.

Ba had a goal disallowed for Newcastle for offside in the build-up but he made no mistake with his equaliser on 34 minutes, curling a free-kick into the top corner from 25 yards after a foul by Jerome Thomas on Gabriel Obertan.

West Brom restored their lead a minute before half-time when both McAuley and Paul Scharner were afforded free headers from a Chris Brunt free-kick, the former to nod home after the latter had sent the ball back across goal.

They had to survive a scare on the stroke of half-time when Haris Vuckic thudded a long-range shot against the woodwork and Ba missed from the rebound.

The Baggies should have extended their advantage early in the second half when a fine pass from Youssouf Mulumbu sent Shane Long clear.

But after going around goalkeeper Tim Krul, the Irishman's touch took him wide and he hit a difficult shot against the angle of post and bar.

West Brom were hanging on and they were not helped by injuries to Thomas and Mulumbu.

They appeared to have been denied when a high ball forward caused a scramble on the edge of the box and Ba produced an emphatic finish for 2-2 with nine minutes left.

But, just four minutes later, the Baggies restored their lead.

Shane Long powered away from Coloccini on the right and crossed, Odemwingie did well to knock the ball down and Scharner poked in from 10 yards.