• Europa League

Pardew hails match-winner Cisse once again

ESPN staff
March 14, 2013
Highlights: Newcastle 1-0 Anzhi Makhachkala

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew heaped praise on the finishing ability of Papiss Cisse, after the striker scored his second injury-time winner in five days to secure a 1-0 win over Anzhi Makhachkala in their Europa League clash.

Cisse, who scored in the final moments against Stoke on Sunday, headed the only goal of the tie in the fourth minute of added time in the second leg to send Newcastle into the quarter-finals.

"Marvellous finish," Pardew said on ESPN. "Papiss did it on Sunday and did it again tonight. It was a quality cross and he finished it off."

"We did a lot better in the second half and put them under pressure and when you put them under pressure something gives.

"I think we've put out one of the best teams in the competition if I'm honest. We just squeezed over the line and I'm highly delighted. We've had a very, very tough two games."

Defender Steven Taylor described the win as "massive".

"In the first half we got the runaround a bit, but in the second half we got stuck in and we did it," he said. "Papiss has stepped up to the plate and scored and got us through to the quarter-finals. It was magnificent."

Anzhi boss Guus Hiddink, though, believes his side created enough chances early on to win the game.

"We created, against a Premier League team, four or five open chances. We can blame ourselves (for missing them)," the Dutchman said.

He also described the red card given to Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez early in the second half as "harsh", adding: "It was not a wise action what he did, but it was harsh. The referee was maybe a little bit influenced by the crowd."

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