Newcastle midfielder Emre hit a late winner as his side climbed out of the relegation zone with a 3-2 victory against Reading on Wednesday.
Glen Roeder's strugglers looked set to remain mired in the bottom three when James Harper's double strike put Reading 2-1 in front after Antoine Sibierski's opener.
But Newcastle staged a second half revival at St James' Park as Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins equalized from the penalty spot and Turkish star Emre stole all three points with just six minutes left.
PHOTO: AP
Newcastle are now unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions, but this was just their second Premiership win in 11 attempts and lifted Roeder's side into 15th place.
Newcastle fans were less than enthusiastic when Sibierski arrived from Manchester City in August, but the French midfielder put his side in front in the 23rd minute.
Nolberto Solano played a one-two with Emre before curling in a cross which Sibierski met with a towering header past Marcus Hahnemann for his third goal in four matches.
Coppell's side hauled themselves level in the 37th minute when Harper's shot deflected off Solano and flashed past Shay Given.
Newcastle's notoriously fragile defense was visibly rattled by that setback and Reading took the lead in the 42nd minute.
Celestine Babayaro gifted possession to Glen Little and the Reading winger drove in a shot that Given parried to the edge of the area. Former Arsenal trainee Harper seized on the loose ball and gave Given no chance with a well-placed shot.
Newcastle equalized in the 57th minute when Sonko fouled Martins and the former Inter Milan star picked himself up to calmly convert the penalty for his first Premiership goal since September.
Reading would have gone third in the table with a point, but Emre left them empty-handed with a curling left-footed strike from the edge of the penalty area in the 84th minute.
Elsewhere, West Ham slumped into the relegation zone as David Cotterill's strike and a Jonathan Spector own-goal earned Wigan a 2-0 win at Upton Park.
Alan Pardew's side have lost four of their last five matches and are now third bottom of the table after Newcastle's win edged them above the London club.
Wigan almost got off to the perfect start in the third minute when Australian midfielder Josip Skoko whipped in a free-kick and Paul Scharner's flick was pushed onto a post by Robert Green.
Marlon Harewood forced a stop from Chris Kirkland moments later as he ran onto Nigel Reo-Coker's pass and drove in a fierce shot.
Argentine striker Carlos Tevez hit the post soon after the interval, but Wigan stole the lead in the 51st minute when Cotterill collected Kevin Kilbane's pass and beat Green with a stunning strike.
Paul Jewell's team doubled their advantage seven minutes later when Baines took aim from 30 yards and the left-back's shot deflected off Spector and flew past Green to seal a first win in four matches for the Latics.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS