Ba brace brings Magpies’ losing run to an end as Wigan rue sending off

Newcastle 3 Wigan 0

The 27-year-old’s first-half double ended a run of foursuccessive league defeats for the injury-hit Magpies on a day when it emerged that the club’s ongoing efforts to renegotiate his contract to dispense with a troublesome release-clause are yet to pay dividends.

But Alan Pardew’s men were aided in no small part by the controversial 12th-minutedismissal of Honduras international Maynor Figueroa byreferee Mike Jones, who later opted not to send off Gary Caldwell for what looked like a second bookable offence.