Pardew relieved for Cisse

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew hopes Papiss Cisse's fluke winner against West Brom at St James' Park can help kickstart the front man's Barclays Premier League season into life.

Cisse has failed to recreate last season's scoring exploits with just two League Cup and Europa League goals to his credit before he deflected Sammy Ameobi's shot past Ben Foster to open his league account for the new campaign.

Pardew said: "It's sometimes very difficult with strikers because Papiss has looked exactly the same in training and he certainly doesn't look short of confidence. He has been smashing them in from everywhere. But sometimes you have these runs where you don't get a goal, and that goal today will do him the world of good."

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