Pardew praise for debut hero Cisse

The Magpies' big-money January signing started Sunday's game on the bench, but he was handed an early opportunity to shine following an injury to Leon Best.

Cisse's workrate caught the eye before his spectacular second-half winner handed Newcastle a hard-fought 2-1 success.

Pardew was full of praise for his latest acquisition, with the Magpies looking for Cisse and his Senegal international team-mate Ba to terrorise Premier League defences and fire the club into top-four contention.

"We mustn't get carried from the team ethic we have got here because the guys did brilliantly to get a result at Blackburn in the week and again we have put in a display here that has been strong," Pardew told Sky Sports.

"(James) Perch in midfield was brilliant. We had no Cheick (Tiote), no (Yohan) Cabaye, but we keep winning. That's a great thing.

"Having said that, you still need great players because they change games. Papiss did that and Demba has done it for us before. It was a real bonus that he got a goal on his debut."

Asked for his take on the strike partnership he has been able to piece together, Pardew said: "Papiss has got that ability to turn with his first touch, and Demba's got that too. They can get at back fours as soon as the ball is played into them.

"They are a dangerous pair. We have got dangerous strikers all over the place here because Shola (Ameobi) and Besty have done well, (Peter) Lovenkrands is there as well and (Hatem) Ben Arfa, so we have got firepower. We just need to tighten up a little bit more."

Victory over Villa keeps Newcastle within touching distance of the Champions League places and Pardew was delighted to come through another tough test with maximum points.

He said: "It was a good win because Villa came here and looked lively. They looked lively first half.

"Although they scored just before half-time, they deserved to be level. They deserved to be in the lead at half-time. We accepted that and second half we knew we had to be better and more controlled, and we were. We limited their breakaways on us and we got a bit of pressure building.

"Of course we got a dream goal for us, because he's a new signing and he wanted to do well. It was a fantastic goal."

Newcastle's victory came at a cost, however, with Ryan Taylor being carried off on a stretcher with a nasty shin injury, although X-rays have shown no break, while Best damaged medial ligaments.

Villa counterpart Alex McLeish felt his side could have taken all three points had fortune favoured them.

Robbie Keane had levelled for Villa on the stroke of half-time, but they could easily have been out of sight by that point.

McLeish admitted as much after the game, with the Scot of the opinion that his side could have secured a comfortable success on another day - with Darren Bent enduring a tough afternoon in front of goal.

"I'm disappointed we never won," he told Sky Sports.

"We made about five chances and they all fell to our top man and our top marksman - Benty.

"I think we had one or two others near the end. (Tim) Krul was in great form and he has made some point-blank saves. On another day Benty would have had a hat-trick. But I'm really pleased with the way we played.

"There are certain moments that we have got to improve. We are still shooting ourselves in the foot at certain times. I didn't think it was a free-kick that led to the Newcastle winning goal."

McLeish feels Villa need to cut out costly errors at the back if they are to start climbing the table, with Cisse's winner highlighting their defensive frailties.

"We have got to try and cut out the cross and deal with it when it comes into the middle," he said.

"We got our positioning a little bit lopsided and, to be fair to Cisse, it's a fantastic finish."