Newcastle United continued to improve on their poor recent form with a fortuitous 1-0 victory over Fulham in their Premiership clash on Saturday.

Joey Barton scored his first goal for his new club with an injury time penalty kick to give Newcastle a much needed victory in a match devoid of any flair or creativity. Both the teams struggled to create any real chances and the final result would have lifted pressure off manager Sam Allardyce whose job has been under threat following some poor performances by his team in recent matches.

Having secured its first league win in seven matches, Newcastle attacked right from the kick off and could have gone in front when a driving run by Charles N'Zogbia saw the visitors win a corner though Habib Beye flashed his header inches wide of the target.

Fulham chalked up a decent response though David Healy's chip was saved easily by Shay Given. Antti Niemi had to be alert at the other end to save a low shot by Barton as both the teams settled down, happy to soak up the pressure and rarely ventured forward.

The second half followed a similar pattern with very few chances for both the sides though Fulham came close to breaking the deadlock through Healy but his 20-yard drive was saved comfortably by Given.

Just when it looked like both the teams would have to share the points, Newcastle got a lucky break when Alan Smith was fouled inside the penalty area by Elliot Omozusi and Barton made no mistake in converting the chance to grab all three points for his team.