Newcastle United’s Hatem Ben Arfa (left) is congratulated by his team mates after scoring
Newcastle United managed to pull a comfortable 2-0 win away from home when they edged Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium.
In this Boxing Day fixture, two late second half goals from substitute, Hatem Ben Arfa in the 69th minute and Demba Ba in the 71st minute were enough to hand the Magpies the three points.
This encounter started slowly, with both teams giving away position cheaply at costly areas but none of the sides managed to capitalize.
In the 14th minute, Ryan Taylor was the first one to get his shot on target, although his shot was well saved by the goalkeeper.
Jonas Gutierrez followed with a sweet strike in the 20th minute, but Bolton’s defence responded well with good cover.
Martin Petrov’s corners looked dangerous momentarily to the Newcastle defence although Bolton failed to take the chances.
At half-Time, the sides were locked at 0-0.
In the second half, Alan Pardew’s substitution payed dividends when Ben Arfa came off the bench to give them the lead after only spending eight minute on the pitch, Ryan Taylor behind the architectural role.
Demba Ba sealed the win with a fine finish in the 71st minute after a Gabriel Obertan assist.
Newcastle managed to hold on to their two goal lead until full time to take all three points away from home.