Eddie Howe reacts to controversial Newcastle United call after Premier League 'no comment'

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Eddie Howe was left frustrated by Newcastle United’s dominant but ultimately fruitless performance as they lost 1-0 to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

The Magpies suffered their first home defeat since January as Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of the game to give Brighton a first win at St James’ Park since March 2021.

Newcastle dominated the match until Brighton’s goal and had a strong penalty shout turned down in the opening stages of the game after Joel Veltman appeared to handle the ball in the area following a clash with Lewis Hall.

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Referee Peter Bankes waved away Newcastle’s appeals and a VAR check agreed with the on-field decision. And the Premier League Match Centre, which provides live explanations of VAR decisions, refrained from issuing a statement on the decision with Newcastle offered no explanation as to why it wasn’t given.

When asked about the decision after the game, Howe said: “I haven't seen it back but a couple of our coaches looked at it back and were adamant it was a penalty.

“If I look at it back and I'm of the same view as the coaches that will be hugely frustrating because were were totally dominant at that point. When you have that kind of start in the game, you want a goal for your endeavours and that was all that was missing in the opening 35 minutes.

“If we were 2-0 up you'd go that was one of the best performances we've had in a long time. Goals always change perspectives of performances and that's why I have to keep some kind of perspective on that.”

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Reflecting on the game and the goal conceded, Howe told The Gazette: “Disappointed with it. I don't think we necessarily switched off but we didn't organise ourselves as quickly as we could have from a dead ball from Lewis Dunk. From that point onwards we're disappointed with what we did.

“Really frustrated because I thought our general performance today for 60-65 minutes was really good. I think that is the best we've looked, the most dominant we've been in a game and lo and behold you don't take your chances and we concede a poor goal from our perspective, it was Brighton's first meaningful attack and of course we only have ourselves to blame for that.

“We need to look and analyse that but the majority of the performance was very strong."

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