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St. Mirren 0 Newcastle 2
Written by Newcastle Utd
First half strikes from Papiss Cisse and Mathieu Debuchy handed United a comfortable 2-0 victory at St. Mirren
By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor
At St. Mirren Park
St. Mirren 0
Newcastle United 2 (Cisse 19, Debuchy 26)
First half strikes from Papiss Cisse and Mathieu Debuchy handed Newcastle United a comfortable 2-0 victory away at St. Mirren in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday night.
It was a win the Magpies fully deserve having dominated for large spells, looking particularly dangerous in the final third, but unable to turn their possession - and chances - into further goals after the break.
Cisse fired the visitors into the lead with an impressive curling effort, before defender Debuchy made it two midway through the opening period, slotting home when one-on-on.
The impressive Dan Gosling and Cisse threatened throughout and both could have made the tally look even more impressive but manager Alan Pardew will be pleased with another encouraging pre-season performance from his side.
Cisse, making his first appearance of pre-season, had a sight of goal inside the opening three minutes but, after Gosling won possession and released the front man, he scuffed his strike from just inside the area.
But the Senegalese striking sensation made up for that miss on 19 minutes as he brilliantly broke the deadlock.
Having found Sammy Ameobi wide on the left, Cisse continued his run and received an inch-perfect ball into his path, taking a touch before curling an effort over Buddies stopper David Cornell and into the far top corner.
Cornell may have been helpless to stop that one but the on-loan goalkeeper produced an impressive stop minutes later, flying to his left to parry away Gosling's powerful header after the midfielder had been picked out by Ameobi.
United doubled their advantage in the 26th minute through Debuchy. The French international full-back beat the offside trap to race on to Vurnon Anita's through ball and made no mistake with a clinical low finish.
It took until just past the half hour mark for St. Mirren to have a shot on goal but forward Thomas Reilly's long-ranger was never going to trouble Rob Elliot as it drifted harmlessly wide.
As half-time came and went, Newcastle should have increased their tally further immediately after the restart.
Hatem Ben Arfa turned two Buddies players inside out before finding substitute Davide Santon, and the Italian's cross was right on the forehead of Gosling.
However, the former Everton man could not keep his effort down and nodded narrowly over the top from close range, much to his obvious frustration.
The lively Cisse was next to try his luck on 52 minutes, finding space to receive Fabricio Coloccini's through ball but drilling a first-time shot straight at Cornell, before the keeper also held Gosling's deflected volley.
Cisse and Gosling were taking turns to pepper the home goal and they both continued to threaten - Cisse lashing just off target and Gosling inches away from connecting with Ameobi's drive across the six-yard box.
Jak Alnwick, Yoan Gouffran, Adam Campbell and Haris Vuckic were all introduced from the substitutes' bench, and the latter was straight into the thick of the action, winning a free-kick in a dangerous area and curling the resulting set-piece onto the head of Paul Dummett, which was easily claimed by Cornell.
As time ticked away and more substitutions were made by both sides, United kept the ball well and ensured they kept a second clean sheet in three days on their travels.
St. Mirren (4-4-2): David Cornell; David van Zanten (Jason Naismith 86), Marc McAusland, Jim Goodwin (Darren McGregor 81), Danny Grainger; Gary Teale, John McGinn (Kealan Dillon 86), Paul McGowan, Gary Harkins (Anton Brady 81); Steven Thompson (Sean Kelly 81), Thomas Reilly
Subs not used: Christophe Dilo, Lee Mair, Mo Yaqub, Barry Cuddihy, Jon Scullion, Jordan Stewart
Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): Rob Elliot (Jak Alnwick 66); Mathieu Debuchy (Davide Santon 46), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (Remie Streete 82), Fabricio Coloccini (c) (Mike Williamson 86), Paul Dummett; Vurnon Anita, Cheick Tiote (Conor Newton 75); Hatem Ben Arfa (Yoan Gouffran 66), Dan Gosling (Haris Vuckic 66), Sammy Ameobi; Papiss Cisse (Adam Campbell 66)
Sub not used: Michael Richardson
Referee: John Beaton
Attendance: 4,216 (709 Newcastle)