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Jack Cork scored his first goal for Swansea since signing from Southampton in January

Newcastle suffer worst top-flight run for 38 years

Now just five points off the bottom three

Swansea reach record Premier League points total

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Newcastle suffered a seventh straight defeat to slip closer to the relegation zone after losing to Swansea.

Ayoze Perez gave the hosts the lead after Jordi Amat's mistake but John Carver's team conceded in first-half stoppage time when Nelson Oliveira headed in from a corner.

They went further behind after strikes from Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jack Cork.

Siem de Jong scored after a long injury lay-off but defeat marked Newcastle's worst top-flight run since 1977.

Magpies shot ourselves in foot - Carver

The Magpies started the day seven points above the bottom three but are now five points from trouble.

And, after wins for relegation rivals Leicester and Hull, with Sunderland and QPR also drawing, other teams appear to be finding form, and points, when Newcastle cannot do either.

To make matters worse, there was another protest by fans towards owner Mike Ashley, but there did not appear to be the same numbers boycotting the game as seen during the home defeat by Tottenham last Sunday.

Newcastle fans show their frustration to Carver with some also protesting against owner Mike Ashley

In contrast to the doom and gloom at St James' Park, Swansea have now recorded their best points tally in the Premier League, beating the mark set by former boss Brendan Rodgers in 2011-12.

Garry Monk's team have shown this season that they deserve to be in the upper echelons of the league, and moved just eight points behind sixth-placed Tottenham to keep alive their slim chances of a Europa League place.

Monk says his squad is not big enough to challenge in Europe yet, but apart from a nervous ending, the team coped well with the hosts' pressure.

Monk delighted with 'excellent' Swans

After Perez capitalised on Amat's error to score from close range, the game swung in Swansea's favour either side of the break as Oliveira scored and then dummied superbly for Sigurdsson to finish off a sweeping move.

Cork exchanged passes with Portuguese striker Oliveira to score a fine third goal for Swansea after 71 minutes.

De Jong came on as a substitute to make his first appearance since August and scored his first Newcastle goal from Jack Colback's cross, but the Dutchman could not arrest Newcastle's slump in form.