Newcastle United 3 Brighton and Hove Albion 1
Eddie Howe said before the game that a lot was riding on the result after his meeting with Newcastle United’s Saudi owners on Thursday (30 April).
After a run of four defeats – in contrast to Brighton’s recent spell of good form – the more world-weary Albion fans will have been unsurprised that the Magpies stole the show.
Still, the Seagulls are perched in seventh place with three games to go – at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, away to Leeds United and, finally, at home to Manchester United.
Today (Saturday 2 May), Newcastle struck early. Brighton had already come close through Jack Hinshelwood and Carlos Baleba before William Osula was presented with an empty net in the 12th minute for the opener.
Bart Verbruggen came out wide to try to deal with a long ball from Bruno Guimaraes but Jacob Murphy got their first and both lost their balance.
Murphy recovered to cross into the centre of the box where, despite the efforts of three defenders, Osula headed home as Verbruggen tried to scramble back.
It was the 6ft 4in Danish forward’s third league goal in four games and at least his third attempt in the opening spell.
Fabian Hürzeler was forced to make an early change, with Joel Veltman replacing Mats Wieffer, and the visitors tested Pope with some promising chances before the hosts struck again.
Dan Burn doubled Newcastle’s lead against his old club with a well-placed glancing header in the 24th minute. The 6ft 7in defender outjumped Hinshelwood to convert the corner taken by Guimaraes.
The Seagulls pulled one back just after the hour when Hinshelwood finished a one-two with Danny Welbeck by finding the top corner.
It was the culmination of a series of quick short passes and the goal set the stage for an exciting finale as Albion went in search of an equaliser.
Nick Pope made a great stop from an overhead kick by Charalampos Kostoulas in the 86th minute and former Newcastle winger Yankuba Minteh blasted over the bar.
At the other end, Yoane Wissa fired well over and Joelinton rolled an effort wide after another surging run.
For Brighton, it wasn’t to be. Instead, Harvey Barnes was on hand to capitalise deep into added time firing home when Wissa played him in.
Newcastle moved to 13th in the table, with 45 points from 35 games, while Brighton slipped to seventh, with 50 from 35.
Hürzeler said: “It was unlucky for us in the end. We missed the chances in the end. We weren’t able to manage these key moments well.
“Therefore, we have to analyse it. We definitely can defend better as a team. We definitely can manage the key moments better.
“When we just focus on performance and how we tried to play our football then I think the players did everything that they can do.
“They showed great effort always to believe they can win this game. We will take the positives away and we will analyse it – then we bounce back.”
Next up, Brighton host bottom-of-the-table Wolves at the Amex at 3pm on Saturday 9 May. This afternoon the already-relegated side drew at home to mid-table Sunderland to take their points tally to 18.
Next weekend, they have nothing to lose while Albion still have everything to play for.
