Twice, Craig Pawson was forced to reverse his initial decision to award Newcastle a spot-kick, but when he pointed to the spot for a third time with four minutes remaining, after Brighton substitute Yasin Ayari blocked Fabian Schar’s free-kick with his hand, Alexander Isak stepped up to level the scores.
Isak’s 23rd league goal of the season cancelled out Yankuba Minteh’s first-half strike, which saw the former Newcastle winger curl into the corner before celebrating provocatively in front of the travelling fans.
The Magpies earned a point through the pressure they were able to build in the second half, with the result leaving them a point behind third-placed Manchester City. With three games remaining, their Champions League fate is still in their own hands.
Newcastle would not have been relishing their trip to the south coast. Their previous seven Premier League games at the Amex Stadium had all ended without a victory, and Brighton had already claimed two wins at St James’ Park this season, in both the league and FA Cup. So far, so inauspicious.
Brighton were without key men though, with Kaoru Mitoma, Georginio Rutter, Solly March and Joao Pedro all unavailable, so this felt like an opportunity for Newcastle to strengthen their grip on a Champions League place. In the end, a point from the Magpies’ penultimate away game was a decent return.
They started well enough, successfully feeling their way into the game in the early stages, and while their initial control did not really translate into goalscoring opportunities, Eddie Howe will have been happy with the way in which his unchanged line-up was able to dictate play.
Howe was without his usual right-hand man, with assistant Jason Tindall serving a one-match ban incurred for picking up three yellow cards, and the Newcastle boss’ urgings for more intensity were almost rewarded when some concerted Magpies pressing resulted in a mix-up between Mats Wieffer and Jan Paul van Hecke. Harvey Barnes picked up possession, but fired wide.
Joe Willock was also off target midway through the first half, breaking purposefully down the left-hand side before flicking a shot just wide with the outside of his foot, but while Newcastle would have felt like they were beginning to turn the screw, they found themselves behind as Brighton created their first meaningful opportunity of the afternoon.
Tino Livramento and Sandro Tonali looked to have Minteh well shackled when the Brighton winger picked up the ball on the right of the box, but he stepped inside them both before curling home a finish that took a sizeable deflection off Dan Burn.
Minteh, whose sale was pushed through because of PSR pressures last June, had opted not to celebrate when he scored in the FA Cup at St James’ in March. He could not have acted more differently here, manically kissing his badge in front of the travelling fans.
While the former Magpie was clinical down Brighton’s right-hand side, Jacob Murphy was proving wasteful on the same flank for Minteh’s former employers, failing to exploit a series of promising positions as his crosses failed to beat the first man.
The game might have been different had Brighton full-back Mats Wieffer received a second yellow card when he caught Tonali in the early stages of the second half, and another major decision went against Newcastle just before the hour mark.
Anthony Gordon had been on the pitch for less than a minute when he was spent sprawling by Tariq Lamptey, with Pawson immediately pointing to the spot. Replays showed there was plenty of contact between the two players, but also revealed it had occurred outside the area. As a result, the initial award of a penalty was overturned.
The subsequent free-kick came to nothing, and while Isak teed up Barnes, who switched to the right-hand side after Gordon replaced Murphy, the winger’s shot was aimed straight at Bart Verbruggen.
It proved to be a second half peppered with significant VAR calls as Newcastle had a second penalty award overturned with 20 minutes remaining. Pawson pointed to the spot when Willock went down as van Hecke lunged towards him, but replays showed there was no contact between the two players. Willock might claim he was anticipating a foul and so went down, but it was a pretty poor example of diving, for which he was rightly booked.
Sixteen minutes later, though, and Newcastle were finally able to step up from the spot. Ayari handled Schar’s free-kick as he leaped in the wall, and after yet another lengthy VAR check upheld the on-field award of a penalty, Isak stepped up to fire past Verbruggen.
