STEVE McCLAREN suffered his first defeat as Newcastle United head coach at Swansea City and he was hardly helped by Dutch defender Daryl Janmaat.

McClaren was a frustrated figure in the first period as Janmaat picked up two yellow cards deep in the Swans half after Bafetimbi Gomis had put the Welsh side ahead in the ninth minute.

After Janmaat, whose attempts to give the excellent Jefferson Montero a rough afternoon backfired with his dismissal four minutes before the break, had gone off the Magpies were always going to find it hard.

Then former Marseille man Andre Ayew, who interested Newcastle this summer, headed in the second six minutes after the restart to give Swansea some extra breathing space and 2-0 was how it remained.The Northern Echo:

McClaren took the decision to play without a striker for half an hour of the second half, so Swansea were never going to be in any danger and the only surprise was that there were not more goals on an afternoon when Newcastle struggled to gain control.

McClaren stuck with the same starting line-up as he fielded against Southampton six days ago, meaning Dutch midfielder Vurnon Anita was passed fit to play after recovering from a back problem.

And Anita was soon aware that he was going to be in for a busy afternoon because Swansea attacked from the start, passing the ball around the visitors looking for gaps.

There had already been a few scares when the opening goal went in. After a strong enough opening defensively, Jonjo Shelvey fed a lovely ball in behind the back four for Gomis.

The France international, taking no notice of the appeals for offside, calmly side-stepped goalkeeper Tim Krul before side footing in to the empty net to get Swansea up and running.

Despite plenty of possession, Newcastle prevented Krul from being further tested in the opening half but they did not do enough in the final third to claw themselves level.

Gabriel Obertan, who teed up Georginio Wijnaldum last weekend with a wonderful delivery, looked the most dangerous player for Newcastle initially.

He also had the best effort on goal, when former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski got down at his near post to save a low shot from the Frenchman after a lovely run inside.

But Janmaat hit the self destruct button. The Dutchman, arguably Newcastle’s best player last season, had already been cautioned for a late tackle on Montero and then he pulled back the Ecuador international when there was no need to deep inside the Swansea half.

With McClaren further frustrated in the directors’ box, Montero crashed a low shot against the inside of the post moments before half-time and Anita was the man asked to keep him quiet until Mbemba was moved out there for the second half. Substitute Steven Taylor replaced Moussa Sissoko.

The change did not stop Swansea, though, who came within a few inches of adding a second. Gylfi Sigurdsson’s left foot curler from 25 yards beat Krul but did not cross the line after crashing off the underside of the bar.

But Newcastle did not have the fortune of the woodwork to save them moments later. Montero’s cross to the middle of the box saw Ayew climb above the defence and power a great header high beyond Krul.The Northern Echo:

After that Newcastle never really got anywhere near to the Swansea goal while it was a case of waiting for a third to arrive. That never did, but Aleksandar Mitrovic did pick up a second caution in as many games less than two minutes after he was introduced.

SWANSEA CITY: Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor; Cork, Shelvey; Sigurdsson (Britton 86), Ayew (Dyer 71), Montero (Routledge 76); Gomis. Subs (not used): Nordfeldt, Eder, Rangel, Bartley.

NEWCASTLE UNITED (4-2-3-1): Krul; Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Haidara; Colback, Anita, Obertan (Mitrovic 82), Wijnaldum, Sissoko (Taylor 46); Cisse (Aarons 54). Subs (not used): Darlow (gk), Williamson, Perez, Tiote.