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Brighton had limbered up for this trip to Tyneside by working out with an acclaimed German cage fighter. The idea was that a spot of mixed martial arts training would toughen up their players at set pieces and enable them to pack a collective punch far too powerful for Newcastle to resist.
Happily for the home side it did not quite work out like that. With Yasir al-Rumayyan, Newcastle’s chair, and a delegation of his colleagues from the club’s majority owners, Saudi Arabian’s Public Investment Fund, in the director’s box, Newcastle ended a debilitating run of five straight defeats.
If a somewhat nervy win banished any fears about Newcastle becoming sucked into a relegation skirmish – not to mention bolstering Howe’s fragile job security – it hardly enhanced Brighton’s hopes of European qualification.
Many of those home fans who serenaded Howe at the final whistle had disagreed with his decision to start Will Osula and Dan Burn but that pair both scored as PIF representatives applauded politely.
Brighton began by monopolising the ball, but as one of Howe’s predecessors, Alan Pardew, once put it: “possession can be overrated.” Sure enough Newcastle assumed a 12th-minute lead. It stemmed from an uncharacteristic error on Bart Verbruggen’s part featuring the visiting goalkeeper charging out of his area as Jacob Murphy advanced down the right.
When Verbruggen ended up losing his footing he accidentally caught Murphy, but to the winger’s credit he somehow managed to stay on his feet and recovered sufficiently to cross to the far post.
All that remained was for Osula, once again preferred to Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa as Newcastle’s lone striker, – five of Newcastle’s six summer signings were on the bench – to head into the empty net.
In the 24th minute another header, by Burn this time, doubled the home advantage after the England defender dodged his marker before meeting a Bruno Guimarães corner.
If that goal proved even a martial arts grounding from a cage fighter as formidable as Christian Eckerlin does not necessarily afford protection from Burn’s 6ft 7in frame, it also emphasises that the return of Guimarãesafter a lengthy absence with injury and then illness has revived Newcastle. While Burn’s contentious selection at left-back ahead of Lewis Hall appeared vindicated, Guimarães’s comeback may have come just in time to keep his manager in post.
A weak Nick Pope clearance flew straight to Jack Hinshelwood and ended up cannoning back off a post and given that Hinshelwood had earlier forced Pope into a decent save and a Carlos Baleba shot had hit the crossbar Brighton were not quite out of it.
Yet as fluidly and incisively as they moved the ball, their decision to play such a high defensive line against the pace of Osula and company seemed increasingly high risk. The Denmark Under-21 striker’s game remains full of jagged edges and his unpredictability can be self destructive, but he also represents Grade A nuisance value.
If Howe got that selection call right, his decision to leave Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes on the bench and deploy Joe Willock wide on the left of the front three proved similarly inspired.
Not that things were totally straightforward for Newcastle. When another poor, rather rushed, Pope clearance led to Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck playing a deft one-two the goalkeeper had no answer to Hinshelwood’s resultant shot and the atmosphere inside St James’ Park turned distinctly nervous.
Brighton might have equalised when Pascal Gross’s inviting cross deceived the home backline only for Welbeck and then Jan Paul van Hecke to narrowly fail to polish it off.
Newcastle have a nasty habit of conceding late goals as they throw leads away so it came as no surprise to see them switch to a back five as Hall, Barnes and Wissa were thrown on.
There was still time for Pope to atone for those disappointing clearances with a tremendous save from Charalampos Kostoulas, the former Newcastle winger Yankuba Minteh to miss an absolute sitter and Wissa to fire wildly over the bar when clean through.
No matter, deep in stoppage time, Barnes lashed home Newcastle’s third goal and the flaws increasingly apparent during the course of a less than convincing second half were at least temporarily camouflaged.
