Magpies top Sunderland, take second

LONDON (Reuters) -- Newcastle United climbed to second place in the English Premier League on Sunday after a hard-fought 1-0 victory at their north-east rivals Sunderland.

Leeds United lost further ground on the leaders, though, after being held to a 0-0 draw by Charlton Athletic at Elland Road.

Greek defender Nikos Dabizas, who had hit the crossbar minutes earlier, headed Newcastle's winner in the 64th minute to leave Bobby Robson's side on 55 points -- just two behind champions Manchester United.

Newcastle, who also have a game in hand on Alex Ferguson's side, were the better team on the day and fully deserved their win, though they also needed a handful of fine saves from their Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given.

"It was my first Tyne-Wear derby victory, so I'm very pleased," Newcastle manager Bobby Robson told Sky Sports.

"Great credit to the players, it wasn't easy. Not many teams win here -- we did it.

"It was a big victory and three big, big points and it looks after Arsenal and Liverpool in a sense, although we hope to get something from those two games obviously."

Newcastle host the Gunners on March 2 and face Phil Thompson's side at Anfield four days later.

Beat Arsenal

"Can we go to Liverpool and win and can we beat Arsenal at home? I don't know...we have all these ingredients in the side that make us difficult to beat," Robson said. "We have a fair side."

As for Given's spectacular save from Kevin Phillips's curling shot, Robson said: "It was as good a save from any keeper in any team in any league all season.

"It's obviously saved us two points."

Sunderland manager Peter Reid blamed the defeat on missed opportunities, even though Newcastle had most of the second-half possession at the Stadium of Light.

"We had chances, but we couldn't stick one in the back of the net,' Reid said. "Shay was magnificent today."

Arsenal, who also have a game in hand on Manchester United, lie third on 54 points, while Leeds are back in sixth place on 44 points with their chances of a Champions League slot receding by the week.

Leeds strikers Robbie Fowler and Mark Viduka fired blanks against the Londoners, leaving manager David O'Leary to rue the missed opportunities.

"We had enough chances to win the game, and we missed good chances today," he told Sky Sports.

"Robbie knows himself, he's disappointed that he hasn't scored a few goals today, because there were good chances and he's a quality player. He's human."

Fourth-placed Liverpool, who are on course for England's last place in the final Champions League qualifying round, have 53 points -- a significant gap to be made up.

"We've 11 games left with 33 points,' O'Leary said. 'You've got to start going on a run and taking maximum points.

"We wanted to take maximum points here today against Charlton and we didn't... but things might start turning for us."

The weekend's action also showed the influence of foreign players in the English Premier League. Only one goal was scored by a British player, Derby County substitute Lee Morris who bagged his team's third in Saturday's 3-0 win at Leicester City.

 

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