Newcastle hosted the defending champions in their opening fixture of the new season at St. James' Park, with a new-look to their side. 4 new signings were on show for Newcastle, including Cabella and Janmaat - while City were eager to bounce back from their comprehensive defeat in the Community Shield at the hands of Arsenal with a win away from home in their first game of the new campaign.

Both sides started slowly and gradually upped the intensity, as Newcastle did their best to get forward on the counter attack with Cabella and Riviére both going close in the early stages of the match. Manchester City's strikeforce Jovetic and Dzeko both linked-up well up at the top.

Tim Krul had to be alert in the Newcastle goal, as he did well to parry a vicious drive 25-yards out from Nasri which was swerving towards goal in the 11th minute but apart from that, Newcastle were dominating the half-chances in the first period of time.

However, a moment of magic between Dzeko and Silva was clinically finished off by the Spanish midfielder who slotted the ball low and hard out of Krul's reach to make it 1-0 to the away side after 38 minutes despite Newcastle having most of the possession.

Dzeko with a back-heeled assist over to Silva after a long through ball pass over-the-top from Yaya Toure, as the two Newcastle defenders Coloccini and Williamson were beaten after the skill from the Bosnian baffled the centre-backs. Soon afterwards, the referee blew his whistle for the half-time break.

In the second-half, Newcastle started the brighter and were unlucky not to score in the early minutes after the restart. Sissoko burst into the box and passed across to new signing Remy Cabella, who had a shot off-balance which flew over the bar.

Cabella continued with his bright debut going forward, skilling up Demichelis just outside the area and was brought down by the Argentine centre-back - who was booked for his troubles. The costless-kick was delivered into the area by Colback but City headed clear as the Newcastle supporters encouraged their team to show some urgency, 1-0 down having played fairly well in the match.

Kolarov also got himself in the referee's book after charging down Riviére near the touchline, as Newcastle kept up the pressure on their opponents.

Fast winger Gabriel Obertan was strangely given a chance to prove himself as he replaced Anita after 62 minutes, despite reports from the club claiming that he was "surplus to requirements" and his performances in pre-season were very good..

Just minutes afterwards, Dzeko came close to doubling City's lead with a power header towards Krul's goal - the Dutchman dived acrobatically to try and parry the effort but it skimmed the crossbar and went just wide!

More substitutions followed, as Jovetic was replaced by Fernandinho for City while Gouffran came off for young Newcastle startlet Rolando Aarons with 15 minutes to play.

City captain and centre-back Vincent Kompany became the fourth player to get a yellow card in the match for a cynical body charge on Colback outside the area, but the resulting costless-kick was blocked by the wall.

Janmaat was the first player to get a yellow card for Newcastle in the game, after a foul on Fernandinho which was rather exaggerated in the 77th minute. Samir Nasri came off for James Milner with 10 minutes to play, as City were happy to sit back and pass the ball around to frustrate the Newcastle players.

Both clubs made substitutions with a few minutes to go, Aguero replaced Dzeko and Riviére came off for another debutant, 21-year-old striker Ayoze Perez. Perez almost got himself a debut goal with his first touch after being unleashed upon the City defence with a through ball, he darted past two defenders and took a deflected strike towards Hart - he dived to his left but Newcastle got a corner from their efforts. The corner-kick came of nothing, but City were under the knife from the two lively substitutes who were pressuring them into making mistakes.

The fourth official signalled for 4 minutes of stoppage time to be added on at the end of a tense finish, and Cabella weaved a bit of magic to set Sissoko through with a chance in the area, which he struggled to keep under control and the resulting shot flew over Hart's goal into the stands as the supporters groaned as they realised time was running out. But unlucky for the hosts, as Aguero's fresh legs were too much to handle at the far post, against the run of play the South American doubled City's lead with a rebounded shot after his initial effort was parried by Krul to make it 2-0 in the 2nd minute of stoppage time.

Hungry for goals: Aguero pounced on the rebound after Krul's initial save late on.

The referee blew his whistle for full-time, and even though they had won with a 2-0 scoreline - City were lucky to do so and Newcastle deserved at least a point from the game in an encouraging display from both sides.

Newcastle (0) Manchester City (2)
Krul 7 Hart 5
Dummett 4 Kompany 8
Janmaat 6 Demichelis 6
Williamson 4 Kolarov 5
Coloccini 6 Clichy 6
Sissoko 6 Fernando 6
Anita 5 Y.Touré 6
Colback 6 Nasri 6
Cabella 7 David Silva 7
Gouffran 5 Dzeko 8
Riviére 5 Jovetic 6
Substitutes
Obertan 5 Fernandinho 5
R. Aarons 6 Milner N/A
Ayoze Pérez 6 Aguero 7