Bruno Guimaraes marked his 100th appearance for Newcastle United with a late strike to defeat Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Newcastle's talisman rifled in with nine minutes remaining, shortly after Fabian Schar had seen a goal disallowed following a VAR review.

The visitors' momentum ultimately told, although their performance prior to Schar's effort hardly merited a precious away win in their pursuit of European football.

Fulham might have ran out comfortable victors had they taken their chances prior to Newcastle's late rally, having shown vast improvement from a midweek loss to Nottingham Forest.

Newcastle are in eighth place on 47 points, while Fulham remain in 13th on 39 points.

How the match unfolded

The Cottagers were on the front foot right from the outset, with Joao Palhinha dragging just wide before Martin Dubravka scrambled to save from Andreas Pereira after the midfielder mistimed his initial header.

Newcastle had to wait until the 34th minute for their first attempt when Anthony Gordon's low effort whistled past the post, then the same man shot across the face of goal after twisting in the area.

Rodrigo Muniz passed up a golden chance to give Fulham a deserved half-time lead, pouncing on Schar's error but shooting too close to Dubravka.

Gordon continued to provide Newcastle's primary threat, drawing one sharp stop from Bernd Leno, yet Dubravka had to be alert again on the hour mark as Pereira combined with Muniz and fired goalwards.

Fulham lost their grip on the game as the second half wore on, although they looked to have escaped when Dan Burn was punished for a foul in the build-up to Schar's strike.

Newcastle quickly came again, and substitute Harvey Barnes' low cross was cleared only as far as Bruno Guimaraes, who blasted beyond Leno to move the Magpies within a point of the top six.

Fulham pay for profligacy

Marco Silva had fumed at his side following their display at Forest, but it looked like Eddie Howe would be the man going home frustrated when he admonished his players during a break in play in a one-sided first half.

Fulham had nine attempts before Newcastle's first, yet they crucially failed to take any of them, allowing the visitors to recover and then grab a goal of their own.

For all their recent struggles on the road, this was out of character for 13th-placed Fulham at the Cottage. They have won nine times at home this season and scored three or more in seven of those matches.

Guimaraes makes his mark

Instead, the decisive strike came courtesy of Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, perhaps their standout performer in a tough encounter.

Bruno Guimaraes had more touches, completed more passes and created more chances than any of his team-mates, then had the composure to provide the moment of quality that had previously been missing.

There was talk once more this week of Bruno Guimaraes' future, but he proved again why Newcastle will fight so hard to keep him on Tyneside.

Club reports

Fulham report | Newcastle report

Match officials

Referee: Sam Allison. Assistants: Eddie Smart, Nick Greenhalgh. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Darren Cann.