As a reassuringly strong sun shone on Tyneside and the air turned sufficiently balmy to consign winter coats to the back of the wardrobe at last, memories of Newcastle’s trip to Milan last September resurfaced.
Home fans had probably not felt as warm watching a match since that Champions League draw at San Siro but Brighton’s often impressively fancy footwork left their hopes of enjoying more European adventures next season very much in the balance.
Eddie Howe has 15 separate tactics boards in his training ground office but even a coach as meticulously assiduous as Newcastle’s manager could not quite cater for his apparently rather fatigued players’ frequent outmanoeuvring at the feet of the gifted Julio Enciso and the 20-year-old Paraguay playmaker’s impressively streetwise friends.
It means hopes of securing the continental combat, preferably in the Europa League rather than the Conference, the club’s Saudi Arabian majority owners crave now hinge on Wednesday’s game at Manchester United and Sunday’s visit to Brentford.
“Brighton are very difficult to play against,” said Newcastle’s manager. “I don’t think we hit the heights we needed to reach to win, our rhythm wasn’t quite there, but it could end up as a really valuable point. The Manchester United game will be massive for us but it looks like it’s going to go right to the end. We’ve got two tough games but it’s still in our hands and our goal difference is very good.”
Brighton took an early lead when Howe’s defence failed to cope with Pascal Gross’s corner. Having spun away from his supposed minder, Elliot Anderson, an unmarked Joël Veltman connected with Danny Welbeck’s beautifully flicked header and scrambled the ball beyond a rather nonplussed Martin Dubravka from close range. Welbeck, incidentally was excellent throughout, the 33-year-old former England forward rolling back the years as he led the visiting attacking line.
Dubravka had once again been preferred to a finally fit again Nick Pope in goal but the way the Slovakian repeatedly flapped at set pieces suggested that could soon change.
A raft of injuries dictated that Roberto De Zerbi’s side was some distance from full strength but Brighton passed and moved with real assurance as the influential Enciso spurned a couple of inviting first-half chances and Welbeck another.
Such misses prompted a string of expletives from De Zerbi, with the Italian at one point punching the inside of his dugout. As the interval approached Brighton’s manager could not fail to have noticed that his team were losing a little of their earlier impressive ability to slow the game down to walking pace and waste time when it suited them, despite much impressive positional interchanging.
An equaliser beckoned and deep in first-half stoppage time, Sean Longstaff scored it, the midfielder tapping in after Anthony Gordon and Anderson combined to unhinge the visiting rearguard.
If Newcastle fans expected a second-half onslaught it never arrived. Instead, as the match wore on Brighton stubbornly refused to fold and Howe’s leading scorer, Alexander Isak, confirmed initial suspicions that he was not properly fit.
It was no surprise when the Sweden striker was withdrawn as Howe made a triple substitution. “Alex wasn’t feeling very well,” said the manager. “You could see he wasn’t right.”
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With Isak’s usual understudy, Callum Wilson not involved after feeling what Howe described as a tightness in an unspecified part of his body, De Zerbi’s players no longer had to contend with a natural centre-forward.
Gordon did his best to compensate and briefly thought he had put his side ahead but his effort was correctly disallowed for an offside against the substitute Miguel Almirón, whose desperation to change the narrative led to a booking for a dive as he endeavoured to win a late penalty.
“I’m really pleased with the performance,” said De Zerbi, whose team are now 10th. “We played in a fantastic atmosphere; St James’ Park is incredible, I think it’s the best stadium in the Premier League.
“We suffered in the second half but I’m proud we played in our style with good ideas in a very tough game. With the injuries we’ve had to finish in the top 10 would be a great achievement.”
