Battling Magpies delight Pardew

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew praised the battling qualities of his players after they re-ignited their bid for European football with a first win in five Barclays Premier League games.

January signing Papiss Cisse scored the only goal with a superb 11th-minute strike to edge out Norwich and put the Magpies five points clear of seventh-placed Liverpool and just two shy of Chelsea in fifth.

"[Owner] Mike Ashley said to me after the Sunderland game that it was fantastic theatre and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, there wasn't much theatre today, but what there was was a real professionalism on the pitch," Pardew said.

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