Welcome along to the start of a bumper weekend of sport at home and abroad.

But before the business end of the Masters, Airtricity League action, the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, the Allianz National Football League and the rest of the Premier League fixtures, we are turning our attention to South Wales.

Newcastle, who can go ahead of Chelsea if they manage to avoid defeat here, have made the trip to 11th-placed Swansea for a spot of Good Friday football.

Team line-ups ahoy…

Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Caulker, Taylor, Dyer, Britton, Allen, Sigurdsson, Routledge, Moore. Subs: Tremmel, Tate, Graham, Sinclair, Monk, McEachran, Gower.

Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Perch, Santon, Gutierrez, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Tiote, Cisse, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Abeid, Gosling, Ryan Taylor, Shola Ameobi, Ferguson, Tavernier.

We’re expecting 90 minutes of eye-pleasing football from two clubs who have earned plenty of plaudits this season. Kick-off is minutes away.

Two Alans, Parry and Smith, exchange some small talk and the football is in play. Newcastle wearing their orange away kit white the home side are in their traditional all white strip.

On loan attacker Gylfi Sigurdsson isn’t far away with the first effort on goal of note. The former Reading player has scored six times in eight matches since arriving from Hoffenheim, but has yet to find the back of the net at the Liberty Stadium.

GOAL! Swansea 0-1 Newcastle (Papiss Demba Cisse)

This man is a goal machine. Newcastle strike it lucky on their very first attack when Yohan Cabaye  directs a pass from Jonas Guitierrez into the path of Cisse and Newcastle’s latest arrival continues his fine scoring streak by side-footing past Michel Vorm, who does get a hand to it.

That’s goal No8 since his move from Freiburg.

Swansea have regrouped since going behind and, as usual, are attempting to get on the ball to play their attractive brand of football. Defender Angel Rangel has a pop at goal when it opens up a little but shoots over.

Joe Allen is next to try his luck but it is too central and Tim Krul collects easily.

Hatem Ben Arfa, who has recently shown glimpses of the talent which saw him rated a better prospect than Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri as a youngster, slips the ball through Neil Taylor’s legs and advances with intent.

The Frenhman cuts inside but the attempt on goal doesn’t match the run and Vorm takes hold of possession.

We’re a third of the way through the 90 minutes and Sigurdsson has just been denied by Krul after letting fly with a rocket from 20-odd yards out. The Dutch keeper covers himself well to palm away.

The home crowd aren’t happy with a couple of tackles as James Perch and Mike Williamson throw themselves into heavy challenges before referee Howard Webb brandishes a yellow card for the latter.

Sigurdsson is on set-piece duty but drives the ball into the arms of Krul.

Ex-Inter Milan full-back Davide Santon plays a sloppy pass and Swansea are onto it like a light. Sigurdsson, who is seeing plenty of the ball, looks to find a path through on goal but the Magpies have bodies back in numbers.

Half-time: Swansea 0-1 Newcastle

Swansea may have had 71% of possession in the opening half but go into the break a goal down.

Cisse celebrates scoring. Credit: Nick Potts/PA Wire/Press Association Images

According to FourFourTwo’s Stats Zone, the pass count looks like this:

• Swansea – 466
• Newcastle – 81

Yikes!

The players are re-emerging from the tunnel and Ryan Taylor is preparing to join the action. He will replace Ivorian defensive midfielder Cheick Tiote, who has tweaked a hamstring. Second half has just started…

Nathan Dyer, who has been good but needs to get on the ball more, dwells slightly when the shot looks on. The winger then offloads to Sigurdsson and the Icelander’s strike is deflected wide for a corner.

Substitute Taylor plays a pass straight to Allen and the Welsh international shots on sight from the edge of Newcastle’s box. It takes a nick off Williamson on the way and Krul puts behind for a corner.

Swansea are beginning to turn the screw now and have had a couple of corners in quick succession.

Swans defender Steven Caulker gets onto the end of a cross from Rangel but it’s headed directly at Newcastle’s stopper. Fans in full voice at the Liberty Stadium. Do they sense an equaliser?

Demba Ba, who went down under a challenge a couple of minutes ago, has been withdrawn for young full-back Shane Ferguson. Ashely Williams has picked up a yellow card, meanwhile.

Who wants to see the only goal of the game so far? To recap, it arrived five minutes in.

YouTube credit: ricardo6762

Two chances for Newcastle to report… Ben Arfa goes by Taylor as if he isn’t there but runs the ball out behind the end line before cutting back. Cisse then receives a pass and takes it a couple of yards then shoots across Krul and out of play.

Luke Moore is off in place of Danny Graham and Scott Sinclair is introduced for Dyer.  Former Chelsea winger Sinclair makes an immediate impact by winning his side a fifth corner.

GOAL! Swansea 0-2 Newcastle (Cisse)

It’s that man again with what can be described as a world class finish. The striker somehow manages to dig the ball out of the ground to lift it over a stunned Vorm. Will chase down a clip… it’s well worth a watch.

Very nearly a hat-trick for Cisse. Caulker’s ball back to his keeper is left short but Vorm canons the ball off his opponent and out of play.

With all the excitement, I forgot to mention that Danny Guthrie is on for Cabaye.

Rangel heads wide from a corner and it just hasn’t been Swansea’s day. Six minutes plus added time remaining.

Full-time: Swansea 0-2 Newcastle

Danny Simpson handball hands Sigurdsson one last chance on goal but for the umpteenth time it is caught by Krul and that’s a wrap.

That win puts Newcastle three points ahead of Chelsea and two behind London pair Arsenal and Spurs. So I’m going to ask…

Can they mount a late challenge for a top four finish?

Here’s Cisse’s second — pretty special, eh?

(via: 101GreatGoals)

We were flat today. Some of our flair players looked like they needed some energy. We sacrficed possession but you’ve got to be patient. This is the first time we’ve won four in a row in the Premier League. Today wasn’t a brilliant performance but we’ve got quality in the right areas and a good team can do that. We’re a good team.” – Alan Pardew

On Cisse: “He was our best player today. He’s got a fantastic pedigree and scored goals in the Bundesliga. We’re lucky to have him and he was the difference between the two teams today.”

Impressive.

I feel for the players today. Newcastle have done very well but I thought we totally outplayed them. Some of our passing and movement was great. We were beaten by two quality finishes. That’s football and you’ve got to live with it.” – Brendan Rodgers

Right, there’s half an Easter egg on the far side of the office that I’ve been eyeing up all day so I’m off. Niall is covering the meeting of St Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers as part of our Airtricity League Friday nights so get yourselves over there sharpish. Here’s the link.