Until Cisse's intervention to seal a fourth consecutive home league win , it looked like Newcastle would miss an opportunity to climb away from the battle for Premier League survival
Substitute Vurnon Anita saw a long-range effort strike Emmanuel Frimpong and clip the crossbar just before the hour. Schwarzer's right hand upright then proved Fulham's saviour, as Yoan Gouffran rose to meet a Sylvain Marveaux corner, the ball brushing off defender Sascha Riether, stationed on the line, en route, before the rebound fell to Cisse, whose follow-up struck the same post and bounced to safety.
Cisse had earlier curled an effort narrowly wide from 20 yards, before the forward was guilty of a lack of vision when, before the interval, he fired over when a simple pass would have released unmarked team-mate Marveaux clean through on goal.
It was by no means one-way traffic, with Tim Krul producing fine saves in each half, a one-handed stop to keep out a header from Dimitar Berbatov, the unmarked forward meeting a John Arne Riise free-kick 12 yards out, in the wake of a brave block from the Dutchman to deny Stanislav Manolev's close-range effort on the turn.
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who had earlier almost sliced a cross from Damien Duff into his own net, was similarly alert to block a goal-bound shot from Bryan Ruiz as the Fulham forward looked to finish a swift three-man move from the edge of Fulham's own box before the break.
Shola Ameobi should have done better when heading wide from a Danny Simpson cross late on, before Schwarzer saved well low to his left as Moussa Sissoko met Anita's cross with a firm header from eight yards. The Australian, however, was powerless to prevent Cisse from claiming the contest's only goal to seal a much-needed three points for the hosts.
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