Cunningham off as Magpies win in Asia

Birmingham 1 Newcastle 2

Shola Ameobi nodded home the winner as Newcastle took the opening honours in the FA Premier League Asia Cup with victory over 10-man Birmingham in Kuala Lumpur.

Kenny Cunningham was sent off after 33 minutes for bringing down Craig Bellamy in the box, much to the disappointment of the local crowd and players from both sides.

Alan Shearer slammed home the resultant penalty to give Newcastle a lead they held through to the interval.

But Birmingham came out fighting and won themselves a penalty with 19 minutes remaining which Paul Devlin converted to level proceedings.

Their advantage only lasted a matter of three minutes, though, as Ameobi climbed high above the defence to head the winner and book Newcastle a spot in Sunday’s final against either Chelsea or the Malaysian national team.