Newcastle's European hopes diminished by Brighton despite Longstaff's equalizer | first division

As a reassuringly strong sun shone on Tyneside and the air became warm enough to finally put the winter coats in the back of the wardrobe, memories of Newcastle's trip to Milan Last September it resurfaced.

Home fans probably haven't felt this comfortable watching a match since the Champions League tie at San Siro, but Brighton's often impressively elegant footwork left their hopes of enjoying more European adventures next season in the balance.

Eddie Howe has 15 separate tactical boards in his training ground office, but even a coach as meticulously assiduous as the Newcastle manager could not attend to the frequent maneuvers of his apparently quite fatigued players at the feet of the talented Julio Enciso and the young 20 years old. The awesome street friends of the Paraguayan game creator.

It means hopes of securing continental combat, preferably in the Europa League rather than the Conference, which the club's Saudi majority owners crave, now depend on Wednesday's game against Manchester United and Sunday's visit to Brentford.

“It's very difficult to play against Brighton,” said the Newcastle coach. “I don't think we reached the heights we needed to win, our pace wasn't quite there, but it could end up being a really valuable point. The game against Manchester United will be huge for us, but it looks like it will go to the end. We have two difficult games but it is still in our hands and our goal difference is very good.”

Brighton took an early lead when Howe's defense failed to deal with Pascal Gross' corner. After moving away from his supposed keeper, Elliot Anderson, an unmarked Joël Veltman connected with a beautiful header from Danny Welbeck and beat a rather bewildered Martin Dubravka from close range. Welbeck, by the way, were excellent throughout, the 33-year-old former England striker stepping back in time as he led the visitors' forward line.

Dubravka had once again been preferred to the finally fit Nick Pope in goal, but the way the Slovak repeatedly shook up set pieces suggested that could soon change.

A series of injuries dictated that Roberto De Zerbi's side were some distance away from being fully strong, but Brighton came through and moved with real confidence as the influential Enciso squandered a couple of tempting first-half chances and Welbeck another.

Such failures provoked a series of expletives from De Zerbi, and at one point the Italian hit the inside of his dugout. As the interval approached, the Brighton manager couldn't help but notice that his team were losing a bit of their previously impressive ability to slow the game down and waste time when it suited them, despite the impressive positional swaps. .

A draw was expected and, in first-half stoppage time, Sean Longstaff scored, the midfielder taking advantage of Anthony Gordon and Anderson combining to unsettle the visitors' rearguard.

If Newcastle fans were expecting an attack in the second half, it never came. Instead, as the match progressed, Brighton stubbornly refused to fold and Howe's top scorer Alexander Isak confirmed initial suspicions that he was not fit enough.

It was no surprise that the Swedish striker was withdrawn after Howe made a triple substitution. “Alex wasn't feeling very well,” the manager said. “You could see he wasn’t right.”

With Isak's usual substitute, Callum Wilson, not involved after feeling what Howe described as tightness in an unspecified part of his body, De Zerbi's players no longer had to deal with a natural centre-forward.

Gordon did his best to compensate and for a moment thought he had put his team ahead, but his attempt was correctly disallowed for offside against substitute Miguel Almirón, whose desperation to change the narrative led to a booking for a nailed while trying to win a late goal. penalty fee.

“I'm very satisfied with the performance,” said De Zerbi, whose team is now in 10th place. “We played in a fantastic atmosphere; St James' Park is incredible, I think it's the best stadium in the world. first division.

“We suffered in the second half, but I am proud to have played with our style and good ideas in a very difficult match. “With the injuries we’ve had, finishing in the top 10 would be a great achievement.”