Magpies steal point from the spot at Brighton and Hove Albion

Brighton and Hove Albion 1 Newcastle United 1

Brighton and Hove Albion looked to be on course for a 1-0 home win over Newcastle United when Alexander Isak slammed home an 89th minute goal from the spot.

Isak made no mistake in scoring his 27th goal of the season, enabling the Magpies to steal a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw.

The referee Craig Pawson initially appeared to allow play to continue when Yasin Ayari, on as a sub, handled the ball in the box.

He then consulted the video assistant referee (VAR) before awarding the visitors a penalty. It was a case of third time lucky after two earlier appeals were ruled out by VAR.

It set the stage for a tense 10 minutes of added time during which Danny Welbeck was booked and Diego Gomez came agonisingly close, heading narrowly wide from a Brajan Gruda free-kick.

Brighton had been sitting on a 1-0 lead after a cross from Simon Adingra was only half cleared by Tino Livramento.

Mats Wieffer chased down the ball and played in former Toon winger Yankuba Minteh.

The 20-year-old Gambia international took on two defenders and had three more trying to close him down, including former Seagull Dan Burn.

But after a feint and a dink, he unleashed a powerful strike, wide of keeper Nick Pope’s reach, and possibly taking the tiniest of deflections off Fabian Schar’s left hand.

Only moments earlier, Joe Willock made a surging run down the left and looked like firing the first solid chance of the match into the Albion net.

But a couple of outfield players, including Carlos Baleba at a pounding pace, and goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen combined to close down the options and Willock’s searing shot inched over.

There were few other genuine chances in the game although Minteh tested Pope with a cracking shot from inside the penalty area in the 80th minute.

The visitors felt hard done by when two second-half VAR decisions went against them but, with just a minute left on the clock, capitalised after Ayari handled as the Brighton wall tried to block a direct free-kick.

In a frenetic spell of stoppage time, Verbruggen was called on again as Callum Wilson forced the Netherlands international into making a crucial save from a thundering strike just before the whistle.

Albion boss Fabian Hürzeler said that his side hadn’t been able to control the game in the way that they had wanted and made some “easy mistakes”.

But, overall, his players had stuck together and put in a good team performance.

Newcastle stay fourth with 63 points from 35 matches while Brighton stay tenth with 52 points from the same number of games.

Next up, the Seagulls are due to face Wolverhampton Wanderers at 3pm next Saturday (10 May) in their penultimate away game.

Premier League champions Liverpool are due to visit the Amex on Monday 19 May and, on Sunday 25 May, Albion travel to north London to face Tottenham Hotspur.