A late James Perch own goal sealed Stoke's comeback win at St James' Park to climb out of the bottom three.
Perch own goal helps Stoke comeback to claim 2-1 win
A late James Perch own goal sealed Stoke's comeback win at St James' Park to climb out of the bottom three.
After a tight opening period, the game finally sparked into life four minutes before the interval when Robert Huth felled Newcastle's Andy Carroll in the box and Kevin Nolan slotted home the spot-kick.
The Potters improved after the break and almost equalised when Jones headed against the right post in the 59th minute before substitute Ricardo Fuller put the rebound just wide.
Jones then headed against the crossbar soon afterwards but finally got an equaliser on 67 minutes when heading home Huth's assist.
The unfortunate Perch then gifted the Potters all three points when heading home Matthew Etherington's corner under pressure from Huth with five minutes remaining as Newcastle slipped to their second successive home defeat.
But Stoke's victory was tempered by a suspected dislocated shoulder for Fuller in the lead up to the equaliser.
Last Saturday's 1-0 league win at Everton and their midweek Carling Cup heroics at Chelsea had made for a positive week for the Magpies, who returned to home turf determined to erase the memory of their last outing on Tyneside.
A fortnight ago, they turned up to face Blackpool with nothing on their minds but taking three precious points, but ended up empty-handed after Ian Holloway's men left with a 2-0 win under their belts.
Despite their last two results, both achieved by impressive performances, there was no room for complacency against a Stoke side whose prowess from set-pieces - and in particular Rory Delap's long throw - is well-documented.
One-dimensional
Newcastle will not have been at all disappointed to see Delap's name among the substitutes and without him, to say the Potters were one-dimensional before the break would have been something of an understatement.
Plan A appeared to be to get the ball up to Jones as quickly as possible, but the threat was minimal.
By contrast, the Magpies were enterprising going forward with the insurance provided by defensive midfielder Cheik Tiote allowing Joey Barton to run the midfield, while winger Hatem Ben Arfa proved a constant source of menace.
For all that, Chris Hughton's men were able to create few clear-cut chances with Ben Arfa's 19th-minute free-kick, which curled just wide, as close as they came to opening the scoring in the early stages.
The Frenchman's combination with full-back Jose Enrique down the left looked the most likely avenue for the home side and the Spaniard drilled a low cross across the face of goal seconds later.
But it was from that flank that the opening goal did arrive, albeit indirectly as Stoke's stubborn resistance was finally broken.
Enrique's towering cross attracted Carroll's attention, although it seemed destined for the arms of keeper Thomas Sorensen.
However, before the Dane could get there, Huth barged the striker to the ground and, to his horror, looked round to see referee Mike Jones pointing to the spot.
His prolonged protests went unanswered and Nolan stepped up to face Sorensen, who once saved an Alan Shearer penalty at St James' Park during his Sunderland days, from 12 yards.
No repeat
But there was to be no repeat as the Magpies' skipper sent him the wrong way to open the scoring two minutes before the break.
The pattern of the first half was largely reproduced during the early minutes of the second and City boss Tony Pulis responded within five minutes by replacing midfielder Salif Diao with striker Fuller.
Stoke immediately looked more potent and forced two corners in quick succession, the second of which was headed just wide by defender Ryan Shawcross.
Sensing a change in the balance of the game, Pulis replaced Glenn Whelan with Delap with 57 minutes gone, and his side might have been back on level terms within two minutes.
Jon Walters climbed high above Enrique to return Etherington's cross towards goal, where Jones headed against the foot of the post with keeper Tim Krul beaten.
The rebound dropped to Fuller, who seemed certain to score, but he stabbed his shot wide of the far post as the home side breathed a huge sigh of relief.
They were counting their blessings again five minutes later when Jones met Dean Whitehead's free-kick with a powerful header, but saw it come back off the crossbar.
But it proved a case of third time lucky with 67 minutes gone when Huth helped Etherington's free-kick back across goal and Jones headed home from point-blank range.
Sorensen claimed Carroll's 70th-minute volley at the second attempt under pressure from Nolan, but the twist in the tale came five minutes from time when Perch powered a header past Krul and into his own net to hand the visitors victory.
Nolan had a chance to claw back a point in injury time, but his right-foot shot flew wide of the far post as the Potters held on.table cellspacing="0" class="arttable" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%">
| Newcastle United |
Team Statistics |
Stoke City |
| 1 |
Goals |
2 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 3 |
Shots on Target |
1 |
| 6 |
Shots off Target |
6 |
| 5 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 3 |
Corners |
5 |
| 8 |
Fouls |
11 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 80.4 |
Passing Success |
66.4 |
| 17 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 94.1 |
Tackles Success |
66.7 |
| 65.2 |
Possession |
34.8 |
| 52.8 |
Territorial Advantage |
47.2 |
|
