A disappointing day and a defeat that ends our run of momentum before the international break, as Newcastle fell short at the Amex once again.
Nick Woltemade thought he’d equalised with a stunning flicked finish to make it four in his last four for Newcastle, but goals either side of his 76th-minute equaliser from Danny Welbeck did the damage.
We rallied late on and were better for much of the second 45. However, we were punished for a toothless first-half display, two sloppy moments at the back, and our failure to test Verbruggen at the other end, mustering just three shots on target.
The results keeps us 12th, for now, and on nine points after eight games, leaving us five points behind sixth-place Chelsea, who beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 in today’s early kick-off.
Howe named an unchanged side once again, sticking by the 11 who saw off both Union SG and Nottingham Forest to nil before the international break, although there was a welcome change on the bench as Jacob Ramsey returned.
**Newcastle XI**: _Pope – Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn – Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton – Elanga, Woltemade, Gordon._
**Subs:** _Ramsdale, Schar, Barnes, Krafth, Osula, Murphy, Willock, Ramsey, Miley._
We made a strong start. So much of the early play was in Brighton’s half, we were seeing so much of the ball and almost went ahead five minutes in as Bruno flashed a big chance just wide after some clever footwork in the box.
Elanga’s lack of confidence and conviction saw us waste a few decent openings, and Brighton began to come back into it as we began to be pushed back, with Bruno doing brilliantly to block Minteh’ strike before Pope got down well to save after Joelinton’s awful giveaway.
Next up it was Thiaw who made a vital intervention, as the German came across on the cover quickly and read Minteh’s square pass to perfection to shut out a big Brighton opening as they burst in behind.
After our fast start over the first 10, the next 20 belonged to Brighton, although the next chance fell our way as Gordon beat his man down the left and hung up a cross that Botman headed wide.
The game had slowed down and, just as it looked like we’d go into the break level, Brighton took the lead. Rutter drive beyond Tonali, Welbeck peeled off Botman far too easily and dinked past Pope to make it 1-0. A soft goal to concede and the first we’d let in all season on the road.
Woltemade’s headed over just before the break from Tonali’s cross and that was that. A first 45 that started well but quickly turned into a really disappointing half where we never tested the Brighton goalkeeper and conceded at such a bad time.
Heading into the second half, we needed to get Gordon running at Wiefffer more, had to get bodies closer to Woltemade and needed Elanga to step up his game down a right side, although the Swede wasn’t offered the chance to do so, as Howe brought on Jacob Murphy and Lewis Miley for Elanga and Joelinton at the break.
Aside from Burn flashing a low ball across the box, it was Brighton that had the first period of pressure since the restart, as Minteh got more joy down our left and Pope blocked De Cuyper’s low shot. Gordon came inside well at the other end, but his shot was poorly struck and scuffed wide, not for the first time this season.
Murphy was giving us an outball down that right and delivered two or three decent crosses into the box, but that moment of quality was still missing as we moved beyond the hour mark without mustering a single shot on target.
Our attack continued to look too one dimensional, despite a period of pressure, seeing Howe make another double change as Harvey Barnes and Jacob Ramsey replaced Gordon and Tonali.
Two big guns off, but something had to change if we were to score our first away goal of 2025/26, and it did. The moment of quality we’d been crying out for finally arrived, and it was absolutely SENSATIONAL from Nick Woltemade, who produced a moment prime Berbatov or Bergkamp would be proud of as he flicked home superbly with his back to goal.
But, just as the away end were chanting his name and hoping to see us push on and win it as Bruno smashed over, Brighton went back ahead. Burn did brilliantly to stop their first effort, but the loose ball fell so fortunately for Welbeck and he buried it, firing past Pope and into the corner to restore the home side’s lead.
We rallied, as Woltemade had one shot blocked and Thiaw headed wide before six minutes of stoppage time was signalled, which saw Burn and big Nick go close again as we threw everything at Brighton to salvage a point.
But it wasn’t to be, as our struggles away from home and winless run at the Amex continued heading into back-to-back home games against Benfica and Fulham next week.
Keep the faith.