MANCHESTER City piled the pressure on Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce as they claimed a rare away win at St James' Park that left them fourth in the English Premier League table.
Goals in each half from Elano and substitute Gelson Fernandes sealed a fully-merited 2-0 win for City, who gave further evidence of their credentials to mount a successful campaign to qualify for Europe by stretching their current run to just one defeat in their last 10 games.
Swiss midfielder Fernandes wrapped up the win in the 76th minute, his first goal for the club coming with his first touch of the game within 60 seconds of his introduction, sweeping a shot home from 10 metres after an inviting tee-up by fellow substitute Kelvin Etuhu.
Despite repeated votes of confidence from the board, Allardyce has seen his out of touch side gain just one point from the last possible 12 to leave them in the bottom half of the table ahead of Sunday's tough-looking FA Cup third round trip to Championship side Stoke City.
The Newcastle manager was left to rue Michael Owen missing the hosts' clearest chance just 37 seconds after emerging as a half-time substitute, when the England international shot straight at keeper Joe Hart after being presented with an inviting one-on-one.
Allardyce largely kept faith with the side narrowly beaten by Chelsea, as Abdoulaye Faye passed a fitness test on an injured arm, but striker Alan Smith missed out after failing to recover in time from the concussion he suffered at Stamford Bridge.
With the manager's options further lessened by Joey Barton making his latest court appearance on Thursday via video link to answer assault charges, Australia's Mark Viduka coming in for his former Leeds teammate Smith was the only Newcastle change.
Sven Goran Eriksson sprang something of a shock in his team selection by including Elano when the City manager had hinted in the build-up he might rest his Brazilian star.
The South American repaid the Swede's faith by breaking the deadlock with an impressive finish seven minutes before the break to put City en route to a league double over their struggling hosts, with only their second away league win this season.
Stephen Ireland showed pace and power to surge into the box and find Darius Vassell, whose neat flick reached the unmarked midfielder, who found the bottom corner with an angled drive from 15 yards.
Newcastle had their chances, and City were caught ball-watching at Charles N'Zogbia's early in-swinging corner, and it took a smart reaction save by keeper Joe Hart to block a point-blank header from Habib Beye's header.
It took another good stop from Hart after 20 minutes to deny a long-range effort from Obafemi Martins.
But Eriksson's men were always a threat on the break, and Elano wasn't too far off target with a dipping angled volley after good work from Martin Petrov and Vassell.
As if to prove the point, it took an outstanding fingertip save from Shay Given to keep out an angled drive from Petrov that was heading for the top corner after impressive build-up play from Verdan Korluka shortly before Elano's sixth goal of the season put the visitors in command.
Defeat meant Newcastle had taken just one point from a possible 12 as high-flyers City, managed by former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson, enjoyed their first away league win since the opening day of the season.
Elano gave City the lead shortly before half-time when he shot low past Shay Given after the ball was played into his path by Darius Vassell.
Allardyce, who recently received backing from United chairman Chris Mort amidst reports he was about to be replaced by former Newcastle and England forward Alan Shearer, brought on injury-prone striker Michael Owen at half-time.
England international Owen had been on the field for less than a minute when he had a shot saved by Joe Hart.
Instead it was City substitute Fernandes Gelson, who made an immediate impact when, moments after coming on, he made it 2-0 in the 76th minute.
City manager Eriksson backed Allardyce to turn things around if he is given time by the Newcastle board, and he said: “Of course I have sympathy with Sam. The longer you are in this job you know the same thing will happen to you and it's happened to me many times.
“They're hard times and they can last for weeks or they can last for months but Sam's shown in the past with Bolton that he's a good manager,” former England coach Eriksson said. “Give him time and I'm sure he'll sort it out.”
Newcastle now face a crunch FA Cup third round trip to Stoke City on Sunday. Defeat at the hands of the Championship promotion hopefuls could drastically reduce the time Allardyce has to prove himself on Tyneside, and he acknowledged he must start putting together a run of results to justify continued boardroom support.
“The Stoke game is not a defining one for me, but I'm not daft enough not to realise I'm in the results business and I need to win some football matches,” Allardyce said.
“The pressure still mounts, it mounts on us all, especially me even with that support, because we've lost a game we shouldn't have.
“We shouldn't be losing at home, and we shouldn't be losing three on the trot but we'll stick together and believe in what we do. We played well but you must score when you get your chances.
“Stoke will fancy it after this, but for us the pressure of the Premier League is off, and a win in the cup can help spark things off in the league.”
Eriksson wants his side to start reproducing their stunning form at Eastlands on the road to help maintain an unlikely push for a Champions League place, and the Swede added: “We've been waiting for that performance away from home for a long time.
“I can't be anything but happy with a result like that and I wish the league finished tomorrow because fourth place would be really good for us.
“I can't really answer why we've been so good at home and yet not done the same away from home, but I hope to come away with some more results like this before the end of the season.”
By Jason Mellor
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