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Salomon Rondon’s brace gives Newcastle back-to-back wins

The on-loan striker scored twice before the break before the Cherries hit back.

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Salomon Rondon’s first-half double handed Newcastle back-to-back Premier League victories as they scrapped all the way to fend off a Bournemouth fightback.

Loan signing Rondon scored his first league goal for the Magpies after seven minutes and then doubled his tally with a bullet header five minutes before the break to set the stage for a 2-1 win.

Jefferson Lerma reduced the deficit six minutes into first-half stoppage time after Adam Smith had been carried off on a stretcher, but despite mounting a concerted effort after the break, that was as good as it got in front of a crowd of 49,266 at St James’ Park.

Newcastle had gone 10 league games without a win at the start of the campaign, but on a day when they had slipped back into the bottom three following Cardiff’s victory over Brighton, they added three more points to those they collected against Watford last weekend to ease their fears.

They were served with an early warning when Federico Fernandez had to slide in to block Jordon Ibe’s second-minute shot, but it was they who snatched the initiative just five minutes later.

DeAndre Yedlin exchanged passes with Mohamed Diame down the right before the full-back sent in a low cross for Rondon to shoot first time.

The striker’s initial effort was beaten away by keeper Asmir Begovic, but he managed to stab home the rebound to get his side off to the perfect start.

Matt Ritchie sent a dipping 15th-minute volley just off target with the Magpies sensing an opportunity to extend their lead, but needed another block, this time by Paul Dummett, to deny Ibe seconds later.

Keeper Martin Dubravka was called upon for the first time to claw Ryan Fraser’s arcing free-kick from under his crossbar and with Ibe and David Brooks seeing plenty of the ball, it was the visitors who were starting to dominate both possession and territory.

However, Newcastle extended their lead five minutes before the break when Rondon got ahead of Nathan Ake to power a header past Begovic and into the top corner from Kenedy’s inviting cross after Ki Sung-yueng had picked the winger out with a delightful pass.

It took a stoppage-time save by Begovic to deny Kenedy and defender Fabian Schar, and although Dubravka matched him to keep out Steve Cook’s header, he could not prevent Jefferson Lerma from reducing the deficit from a Fraser corner six minutes into stoppage time.

The pace did not relent after the restart with both sides knowing the next goal could be vital, and Rondon glanced a 55th-minute header wide with Ritchie this time providing the ammunition.

Dubravka gratefully dropped on a deflected Fraser shot after the visitors broke three minutes later, but Begovic was relieved to see Ritchie fire just wide from Ayoze Perez’s pull-back after Newcastle turned the tables.

Ibe should have levelled after being played in by substitute Dan Gosling with 17 minutes remaining, but fired high over, and Gosling saw what he thought was an equaliser ruled out for offside with five minutes remaining.

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