Newcastle United ended a dismal run of 5 straight defeats with a 3-1 win over a Europe-chasing Brighton at St James’ Park.
Will Osula scored Newcastle’s opener towards the run of play due to a Bart Verbruggen error earlier than Dan Burn headed dwelling the second towards his former employers.
Jack Hinshelwood’s second-half aim restored the nerves among the many Newcastle crowd, who’ve seen their aspect hand over essentially the most factors from profitable positions.
These nerves almost became disappointment when former Newcastle winger Yankuba Minteh missed a sitter however second-half substitute Harvey Barnes fired dwelling a Toon third to finish Brighton’s five-game unbeaten run.
Newcastle, who started the day in fifteenth, transfer as much as thirteenth within the league whereas Brighton suffered a blow of their chase for Europe, dropping to seventh. Brighton might fall to tenth if outcomes this weekend don’t go their method.
How Newcastle stopped the rot
It appeared like extra of the identical for Newcastle. Brighton had made a stronger begin at St James’ Park with Nick Pope conserving out Hinshelwood two minutes in, earlier than Carlos Baleba watched his long-range strike hit the bar.
Nonetheless, the momentum of the primary half modified when Verbruggen bizarrely rushed off his line and slipped in an try to shut down Jacob Murphy, who crossed into the world for Osula to move into an empty internet.
Newcastle then took cost, providing wave after wave of assaults earlier than Dan Burn transformed a Bruno Guimaraes nook. Fabian Hurzeler revealed on Friday that his aspect had introduced in an MMA specialist to assist them cope with the rising menace of set-pieces; nonetheless, their knowledgeable recommendation was not adopted as Burn headed in Newcastle’s second with ease.
Whereas Newcastle have been snug within the opening 45, a lax ball from Pope almost gifted Brighton a method again as his clearance deflected off Hinshelwood and struck the publish.
Hinshelwood did discover his aim as Brighton began the second half on prime, linking up neatly with Danny Welbeck earlier than firing previous Pope.
The Newcastle stopper did, nonetheless, deny Charalampos Kostoulas’ acrobatic effort late on, although. As Brighton continued to push, a golden alternative emerged, however an unmarked Minteh despatched his tap-in over the bar.
Brighton will rue not making the most of their late ascendancy, although, as moments after Joelinton selfishly selected to tackle a shot somewhat than squaring the ball to Barnes, the extensive man transformed to place the end result past doubt in damage time.
Extra to observe…
