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Newcastle - Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse repaid the faith of manager Alan Pardew as his last-gasp strike earned a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Cisse had scored just three times this season, but Pardew brought the Senegal international back into the starting line-up and he delivered the winner four minutes into stoppage-time at St James' Park.
The 28-year-old's second Premier League goal of the campaign lifted Newcastle into eighth place after a third win in their last four matches and left struggling Palace looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation zone.
Tony Pulis's team are just three points above third bottom Sunderland, who have two games in hand over the Eagles.
Pulis had made two changes to the side which drew 0-0 at Sunderland last weekend as Jason Puncheon and Cameron Jerome replaced Thomas Ince and Glenn Murray and the switches almost made an immediate impact.
Puncheon clipped in a cross towards Jerome and the hulking striker rose above his marker to flash a header just wide.
Newcastle went even closer when Cisse spun away to fire in a shot that Julian Speroni could only parry out to Luuk De Jong, who headed the rebound over the bar.
Jerome had another sight of goal after a Palace counter-attack caught Newcastle flat-footed, but he failed to get his shot away quickly enough and the hosts recovered to block.
Speroni saved well again to deny Cisse after Moussa Sissoko surged clear to cross from the right wing.
Palace winger Yannick Bolasie sent a left-footed effort narrowly over just before half-time.
Pulis's side were well on top in the early stages of the second half and Kagisho Dikgacoi had a golden opportunity to break the deadlock, only for Tim Krul to repel the South African midfielder with a fine save.
Bolasie was denied the opening goal when he tricked his way past Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa for a ferocious shot which cannoned back off the crossbar.
Speroni kept out Cisse's strike as Newcastle responded strongly.
Cisse had another chance when he met Hatem Ben Arfa's cross, but his header failed to test Speroni.
Palace were just seconds away from a valuable point when Ben Arfa swung over one last cross into the visitors' penalty area and Cisse found space to head home.
