Karl Darlow gives surprising verdict on his penalty heroics for Newcastle

Darlow, remarkably, stopped spot kicks from Nicklas Bendtner and Henri Lansbury on his return to the City Ground on Friday night.

Nine-man Newcastle went on to controversially lose 2-1 on a night dominated by Lansbury’s antics and the officiating of referee Stephen Martin.

And the penalty saves were no consolation to Darlow, signed from Forest in 2014.

“It was just me doing my job really,” said the goalkeeper. “It was just one of those where I’ve guessed, and I’ve guessed right on both of them.

“Unfortunately, we’ve lost the game, so it’s not a game I’m going to look back on and say ‘oh, I saved two penalties in the game’, because we lost the game.

“The result is the most important thing, and we need to pick ourselves up and go again (against Birmingham City) next Saturday.”

Darlow was able to anticipate which way Lansbury, his former Forest team-mate, would put his penalty.

“He normally goes the other way, so we double-bluffed each other,” said the 26-year-old.

“It was one of those where I just went the way I thought and made the save. It doesn’t count for anything unfortunately, and it’s frustrating.”

Newcastle, knocked out of the EFL Cup last week, remain top of the Championship after Cardiff City held second-placed Brighton and Hove Albion to a goalless draw on Saturday.

“The run that we went on has put us in a great position,” said Darlow.