A Hatem Ben Arfa wonder goal helped Newcastle to a 2-0 victory over Bolton and moved Alan Pardew's club level on points with the top four.
Magical moment from Frenchman breaks Bolton's resilience
A Hatem Ben Arfa wonder goal helped Newcastle to a 2-0 victory over Bolton and moved Alan Pardew's club level on points with the Premier League's top four.
The Frenchman lit up what had been a fairly turgid affair with his magical second-half dribble and finish, which compared to his FA Cup stunner against Blackburn, before, 10 minutes later, Papiss Cisse made sure of the points.
It was Newcastle's fifth league win in a row and, combined with Tottenham's shock home defeat by Norwich, means they are now level with the UEFA Champions League places.
For Bolton, who had showed signs of upsetting Pardew's men with a determined and disciplined display, defeat was a little harsh.
But having confronted referee Mike Jones on the pitch after the final whistle, a furious Owen Coyle will know luck rarely works in your favour when fighting against relegation.
Following back-to-back defeats after the loss to Fulham, Bolton remained just a point outside the drop zone.
The respective ambitions of the two sides ahead of kick-off could hardly have been in starker contrast with Newcastle intent on sustaining an unlikely charge for Europe and Bolton simply looking for the points they need to extend their Premier League stay.
But with the locals having arrived hoping for a free-flowing attacking display from their side in the wake of Friday night's battling win at Swansea, what they got was a drab, joyless opening 45 minutes which would have delighted Bolton boss Coyle.
Cisse, who has put better defences than that boasted by Monday's visitors to the sword in recent weeks, was subdued as he and Newcastle's flair players failed to fire in the face of a determined rearguard action.
Unpunished
In addition, recalled veteran Bolton frontman Kevin Davies kept the returning Fabricio Coloccini and central defensive partner Mike Williamson busy throughout.
It said much about the opening period that the only half-chance came with 38 minutes gone, and that the result of an error by visiting goalkeeper Adam Bogdan which, fortunately for him, went unpunished.
French midfielder Yohan Cabaye had a brief glimpse of goal with 15 minutes played when the ball broke to him on the edge of the box after full-back Danny Simpson's charge had been halted, but he fired high over.
Sam Ricketts saw a long-range shot deflected wide by Coloccini four minutes later, but Tim Krul and Bogdan were never stretched as Bolton managed to frustrate their hosts.
Krul had to get down well at his near post to collect Martin Petrov's 31st minute strike, but there was never any real chance of the ball eluding his grasp, and his opposite number was similarly unworried by Coloccini's curling effort from distance two minutes later.
The only moment of note came seven minutes before the break, and perhaps fittingly, was something of a comedy of errors.
Bogdan got to Ben Arfa's inswinging free-kick under no pressure, but contrived to punch it straight at team-mate Ricketts with the ball, to his immense relief, flying wide of his unguarded goal.
There was almost an audible sigh of relief when referee Jones blew for half-time with the home fans hoping the restart would bring much, much better.
Suspicious
In the event, it very nearly brought much worse.
The home side, who had replaced utility man James Perch with Shane Ferguson at the break, found themselves pinned
