West Brom 1 Newcastle 3 - match report

West Bromwich Albion were blown away by blistering Newcastle after a first-half Hawthorns horror show.

Papiss Cisse's brace and Hatem Ben Arfa's strike put the Magpies 3-0 up at the break with Albion over-run.

Shane Long's second-half strike – after Newcastle's defensive howler – handed the hosts a lifeline but they couldn't find a way back.

West Brom's woes were compounded after they finished the game with 10-men when James Morrison suffered an apparent knee injury with no substitutes remaining.

It was Albion's ninth home defeat of the season and leaves them 14^th in the Premier League.

Roy Hodgson made four changes with Jonas Olsson – available after a ban – Keith Andrews, Peter Odemwingie and Marc-Antoine Fortune replacing Nicky Shorey, Paul Scharner, Chris Brunt and Long.

But the changes couldn't stop the Baggies falling behind after just six minutes.

Ben Foster had already saved from Demba Ba before the visitors carved the hosts open.

Jonas Gutierrez's defence-splitting pass sent Ben Arfa down the right and his low cross was turned in by the lurking Cisse from five yards.

The hosts hadn't started and they were opened up again six minutes later when Newcastle struck a brilliant second.

Ben Arfa won the ball on the edge of his own area and swapped passes with Yohan Cabaye before feeding Cisse.

Ben Arfa continued his run to collect the ball from Cisse, cut inside Olsson in the area and whipped a superb low effort past Foster.

It was a wonderful counter-attack with the shell-shocked Baggies reeling from Newcastle's stunning start.

But as good as Newcastle had been, error-strewn West Brom were wretched and had been rightfully picked apart.

Morrison fired a half volley wide as the Baggies responded and gradually they found a toe-hold in the game.

Fortune headed over Liam Ridgewell's cross and Andrew's had a goal disallowed on 32 minutes after Fortune was ruled offside.

But any hopes of a revival were killed off on 34 minutes when Cisse struck again.

It was another beautifully worked goal as Ba's backheel released the dangerous Ben Arfa and his cut-back was clinically dispatched by Cisse.

The Baggies were rocked and limped to half time when Hodgson hauled off Jerome Thomas and Andrews and threw on Brunt and Long.

And, fresh from a half-time rocket, Albion pressed with Youssouf Mulumbu and Morrison firing off target but Foster denied Cisse a hat-trick on 48 minutes after the striker went through.

It galvanised West Brom and they pulled a goal back four minutes later thanks to a massive Newcastle blunder.

Mike Williamson tried to shield Mulumbu's long ball back to Tim Krul under pressure from Odemwingie only to collide with his keeper and Long tapped into the empty net.

It lifted The Hawthorns but Newcastle were still a danger and Foster parried Cisse's smart effort.

The keeper saved again from Ben Arfa before Scharner replaced Mulumbu with 17 minutes remaining.

It was their last substitution and meant there was no replacement for Morrison when he was injured tackling Ba with 12 minutes to go.

It meant there was no rousing finale as Newcastle played out the rest of the game with minimum fuss.