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Ba Buzzing At Return To Winning Ways
Written by Newcastle Utd
After a month without a league win, Demba Ba admitted Sunday's victory over West Brom was "important" for Newcastle
By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter
Sunday's victory over West Bromwich Albion was Newcastle's first three-point haul in the Barclays Premier League since they beat Norwich on 23rd September, with Demba Ba on target in both matches.
And United's leading goalscorer admitted that the 2-1 win against the Baggies was "important" as the Magpies look to climb the table over the coming weeks.
Last season, Alan Pardew's side finished fifth but have yet to hit top gear so far in the current campaign. Nonetheless, they have lost only twice in the league while they have also made a fine start in their Europa League fixtures.
Ba opened the scoring on Sunday, netting his seventh of the season, before Romelu Lukakau equalised nine minutes into the second half.
However Papiss Cisse deflected Sammy Ameobi's stoppage time strike past Ben Foster to lift Newcastle up to tenth and end their month-long wait for a domestic success.
And, speaking exclusively to nufc.co.uk, Ba said: "It was an important win, not a big win but an important win because it's been a while since we won.
"The way we played today was not the best but at the end of the day we have the three points and that's the most important thing."
A crowd of 49,731 was at St. James' Park and Ba felt the support of the home fans was crucial.
"You have to win at home, it's like that," he said.
"You need to get maximum points and it's always about the wins. It was a good crowd and it's always good to play here."
United's European commitments and international call-ups have meant that Pardew has only had relatively limited opportunities to work with his players on the training pitch and Ba believes that has affected United at times this season.
But they are now just two points behind Arsenal in sixth, and the striker is hoping the side will continue to head in the right direction, particularly with a week until the next game at Liverpool.
He said: "We haven't trained a lot but these three points brings us a little bit closer to the first teams in the table so we're happy."
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