Newcastle beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Saturday with first-half goals from Demba Ba and Jonas Gutierrez as the highflying Magpies moved into third place and extended its unbeaten run in the Premier League to 10 games.
Three minutes from the end, Wolves gave the visitors a late scare when Steven Fletcher dived to head in a cross from Adam Hammill for his eighth goal in 12 league games.
Wolves almost grabbed a point in injury time at Molineux but Kevin Doyle's close-range goal was disallowed as the cross in the buildup was ruled to have gone out of play.
Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul made a handful of stunning saves as Wolves slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat, which included using his face to block an attempted lob from Doyle on the edge of the area.
Ba scored in the 17th minute after careless defending from Wolves. Yohan Cabaye's corner looped into the near post and nobody picked up on Ba's run as Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey came to collect the ball. Ba stole in for a simple nod down from two yards for his fourth goal in two games following his match-winning hat trick against Blackburn.
Wolves could have drawn level immediately but again Krul was the difference.
Diving to his left to a strike from Doyle, Krul was forced to use his outstretched right foot to make the all-important save with the effort deflecting off Steven Taylor.
Gutierrez made it 2-0 in the 38th after picking up a stray pass and evading three tackles before cutting inside Wolves captain Roger Johnson and calmly finishing with a 12-yard (meter) shot beyond Hennessey.
Newcastle is third with 15 points but can be overtaken if Chelsea wins at Bolton on Sunday.
