Newcastle boss Alan Pardew conceded his side rode their luck in coming away from Ewood Park on Wednesday night with a 2-0 victory over Blackburn.

The result lifted them to fifth in the Barclays Premier League table.

A Scott Dann own goal in the 12th minute put the visitors ahead, but they had to survive a wealth of Blackburn pressure, including a David Dunn penalty that was saved by Tim Krul in the 43rd minute, before Gabriel Obertan made the points safe in injury time.

Pardew praised the attitude shown by his players as they bounced back from Saturday's FA Cup defeat by Brighton, saying: "With the loss of (Yohan) Cabaye this morning and so many key players out, I think we knew coming here it was going to be very difficult.

"We talked about it before the start of the game, to be resilient and strong. Blackburn put everything in your box. We had to be strong and we were, but we had some fortune in the game, something I didn't think we got at Brighton, and sometimes that can make a difference."

Cabaye appealed against a charge of violent conduct for a clash with Brighton's Adam El-Abd on Saturday, but the Football Association rejected that and he must sit out two more matches, a decision that frustrated Pardew.

"I am disappointed, especially with everybody saying they don't think there's any intent in there and the FA still decide to (ban him)," he said.

The opening goal was a major slice of luck for Newcastle, with Ryan Taylor's 25-yard effort looking comfortable for Paul Robinson before it hit Dann and flew into the opposite corner.

But Rovers only had themselves to blame for failing to take a host of chances, most crucially when Dunn placed his penalty far too close to Krul after Danny Simpson had been penalised for barging into Anthony Modeste.

Newcastle shored things up at half-time, with James Perch replacing Hatem Ben Arfa, but Blackburn still had more than enough chances to earn at least a point, Modeste, Dann and Mauro Formica all guilty of bad misses.

And Obertan rubbed salt into the wound in injury time, showing Rovers how it should be done by clinically finishing off a swift break.