Cisse double gives Newcastle point at Swansea

SWANSEA, Wales (AP) �?Papiss Cisse eased some of the pressure on Newcastle manager Alan Pardew after his second brace of the season secured a precious Premier League point as the Magpies drew 2-2 at Swansea on Saturday.

Newcastle remained in the relegation zone with four points from seven games, while Swansea is provisionally fourth.

�?Cisse was starting for the first time since fracturing a patella in April and he repeated his two-goal show against Hull last month when he came on as a substitute to stun Garry Monk's side at the Liberty Stadium.

�?Swansea twice took the lead through Wilfried Bony and Wayne Routledge, but Senegal striker Cisse took advantage of some slack home marking to score Newcastle's first away goals in the top flight since March 1.

�?Newcastle fans voiced their displeasure at both Pardew and owner Mike Ashley - who was present at the match - regularly during an entertaining contest, with the visitors desperately short of confidence and still seeking their first win of the league campaign.

�?Swansea had made its best start to a Premier League campaign but had gone three games without a win and it showed as both sides took time to settle.

�?Gabriel Obertan fired just wide and the chance seemed to spur Swansea into action at the other end. Bony played Ki Sung-yueng's pass to Gylfi Sigurdsson and a simple one-two saw the Ivorian bear down on goal and slot home pass Tim Krul.

�?Newcastle had barely functioned as an attacking force but two minutes before halftime Obertan got the better of Neil Taylor and Cisse stole across Ashley Williams at the near post to beat Lukasz Fabianski in the Swansea goal.

�?Swansea responded immediately with Bony seeing a shot blocked before driving a fierce effort over, but Newcastle's luck held only until five minutes into the second half.

�?Sigurdsson held off Moussa Sissoko, perhaps too forcefully for Pardew's liking, to slip a pass into Routledge's path with Dummett playing him onside in the left-back position.

�?Krul came rushing off his line but Routledge nonchalantly beat him with a delightful chip to restore Swansea's lead.

�?Newcastle were making little attacking headway and came close to conceding a third when Sigurdsson's back heel found Bony and the Ivorian just failed to keep his chip under Krul's bar.

�?Bony was almost on the scoresheet again when he met Nathan Dyer's pass and Krul did well to save.

�?And that stop proved more important moments later when substitute Sammy Ameobi evaded the challenge of Federico Fernandez and crossed for Cisse to volley home from close range.

�?Cisse almost completed his hat trick with 10 minutes remaining when Emmanuel Riviere's blocked shot fell to him inside the six-yard area but he couldn't maintain his balance and the chance was lost.