We began this minute-by-minute with an email from Oliver Lewis, so it only seems right that we finish it with one, too. “The last time I sent in a super pessimistic email prior to a match and it was published we beat Man U 3-0. I promise not to abuse this power by now emailing in every time with doom and gloom. Well you’ll probably stop posting it after a while presumably. Anyway HOWAY THE TOON!”
Enjoy your evening, Geordies. Night night.
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So Newcastle go two points clear at the top of the Championship, in a week in which they play the third-placed team and the fifth - Huddersfield and Reading, respectively. Crucially they’re eight clear of third place.
“Definitely not,” says Diame when asked if his goal was deliberate. Fair play.
Well. Quite a game, and quite a result for Newcastle. For the first 20-odd minutes Brighton were excellent, had pinned Newcastle back and looked like they would extend their lead at the top of the table. But after that Newcastle were excellent, pushing and pushing and pushing and those substitutions worked a treat.
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Full-time: Brighton 1-2 Newcastle
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 3: Don’t like the look of Rafa Benitez’s blood pressure as his instructions to take the ball into the corner are ignored...
90 mins + 2: Yellow card for Murray, after a frustrated foul on Shelvey.
90 mins + 1: Shelvey belts the ball into the corner instead of putting his foot on it. Might regret that.
90 mins: In the most Newcastle development imaginable, a load of lads have taken their tops off in the away end. Four minutes of added time.
89 mins: Worryingly simple for Newcastle. Ritchie sprays a long pass from right to left for Atsu. He brings it down well, Bruno backs off, Atsu squares the ball across the box and Perez coolly turns it home from about eight yards out. They’ve deserved that goal.
Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters
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GOAL! Brighton 1-2 Newcastle (Perez 89)
They’ve come from behind! But that was too easy.
88 mins: Sub for Brighton - Knockaert is off, and Solly March is on.
86 mins: Very ragged from Brighton now, they’re holding on. Sidwell gives the ball away not far outside his own area, it drops to Murphy but his shot is skewed quite high and wide and over.
83 mins: ‘Turns the ball home.’
1-1 - Diamé turns the ball home and United equalise! COME ON!!!!! #NUFC
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) February 28, 2017
82 mins: Both teams make substitutions following that goal - Brighton replace Baldock with Beram Kayal, while Ayoze Perez is on for Newcastle, in place of Gouffran.
81 mins: Extraordinary stuff. The corner comes over from the right, Stockdale comes out but a defender gets there first. The ball drops to Atsu, who hits a first-time shot heading miles, miles, miles wide but it deflects off Diame’s heel, it loops up in the air and just drops under the bar and into the top corner. Remarkable.
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GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Newcastle (Diame 81)
That’s the weirdest goal you’ll see in some time.
80 mins: Murphy gets down the right for Newcastle, the ball breaks back to Ritchie who crosses in for Shelvey, but Bruno whips the ball off his head. Another attack comes on the right, Ritchie crosses right-footed this time but Murphy’s header at the near-post goes wide.
77 mins: Atsu wins a corner off Bruno on the Newcastle left. Ritchie steps up and outswings one into the area and Murphy is there, completely free about ten yards out, but he heads it more or less straight at Stockdale.
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74 mins: Lovely ball over the top by Murray looking for Knockaert, but two defenders swoop across to snuff out that particular danger. Now, a change for Newcastle: Daryl Murphy comes on for Colback, so a clear attacking move from Benitez.
73 mins: Ooof, big collision between two big men, as Diame and Duffy hammer into each other. Both men are OK, but the ground might need a little attention.
71 mins: Murphy cuts in from the left and takes a big right-footed shot, but there’s far too much oomph on it and it goes way over the bar.
69 mins: The game is drifting a little now. Neither side have created much of note in a while, could do with a change for either side.
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67 mins: Murray crashes to the floor in the area with Lascelles the Newcastle defender in attendance, but the referee wasn’t buying that one.
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64 mins: Shelvey tries to spread the ball to Atsu but he commits the cardinal schoolboy football sin of waiting for the ball to come to him, rather than meeting it, and Tomori intercepts with some ease. Feels like Newcastle need something different now.
62 mins: Darlow nearly gets his team into some bother by slicing a clearance out of play on the right, but from the resultant attack Newcastle eventually clear. Villa 2-0 up over Bristol City now, and Blackburn are leading Derby 1-0.
60 mins: Shelvey plays a wonderful raking pass from the centre circle to the right flank, but Atsu can’t do quite enough with it. Wonder when Benitez will call on the big guns...
59 mins: ...which Shelvey curls around the wall, but Stockdale does well to save scrambling down to his left.
58 mins: Booking for Duffy, despite not actually touching Shelvey with the challenge. He did go in pretty recklessly though, and the Newcastle man did well to jump out of the way. Free-kick to Newcastle, a good way out...
56 mins: Horrendous mistake from Stockdale, who passes the ball straight to Gouffran, about 20 yards of space either way, on the edge of the box. The Newcastle forward controls, picks his spot, but Stockdale just managed to stay big enough to block the effort with his leg. Careless from both men there, but more so the Brighton keeper who may be taking a little lie down in relief.
54 mins: The ball breaks to Atsu in the area but his shot is well blocked by Duffy. Elsewhere, Aston Villa have just taken the lead against Bristol City.
52 mins: A slight lull in proceedings. Hopefully everyone gathering themselves for another half an hour of ripping hot action.
49 mins: Chance for Brighton. Baldock does good work in the right channel, he moves out wide then cuts the ball back to Knockaert, who Robbens onto his left foot and shoots, but Darlow makes a solid enough save that time.
48 mins: More goalkeeping hi-jinx, as Sidwell plays a hospital pass back to Stockdale, he and Gouffran get there at about the same time but luckily for the two Brighton men the ball breaks wide, and Gouffran can’t make the most of the chance.
46 mins: Brighton on the attack straight away, and Darlow comes out to punch a cross, rather unconvincingly. It goes straight up in the air and Dummett has to scramble back and hook a clearance off the line. Lucky escape for the Newcastle keeper there.
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We’re back out, the teams greeted as ever by ‘Good Old Sussex By The Sea’
“Well it was a longer walk than Google told me but I’m here at the Crown & Sceptre,” says Tom Levesley, settling down just in time for half-time in Abergavenny. “Thanks for the tip.”
Smashing old half of football here. Fairly even - on the balance of play you’d probably say Newcastle were ahead, but in terms of chance quality Brighton have the edge.
Half-time: Brighton 1-0 Newcastle
Peeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins + 2: Newcastle go so close to levelling with the last kick of the half. Yedlin gets down the right with some gusto, cuts the ball back to Atsu who has a clean shot on goal but doesn’t quite get enough power on a shot that wasn’t quite well-directed enough, and Stockdale dives to his left and saves.
45 mins +1: Good effort by Ritchie, driving down the left and firing in a low cross-shot that Stockdale does well to push away, and not towards one of the waiting attackers.
45 mins: Two of them, in fact, but nothing comes of either and Brighton counter at pace down the right. However, a crossfield ball from Knockaert doesn’t quite find Murphy properly on the left, and Newcastle can clear. Two minutes of added time.
44 mins: Newcastle attack again down the left, Ritchie has time to pick out his man from the flank, but hits a low cross straight into the first defender. Still, they do get a corner out of it.
41 mins: The referee gives a rather curious free-kick to Brighton for a foul, but Brighton had the ball and were attacking down the right. Still, from that free-kick the ball falls to Murray in the box, he hits a volley on the turn and Darlow has to dive full-length to his right to paw it away.
38 mins: Knockaert now goes into the book for handling a pass as Newcastle try to attack down their right. He claims he headed the ball, which he did...just before handling it. Nice try, Tone.
37 mins: Oooh, big call from referee Madley. A long ball over the top looks for Baldock, but before it can reach him he’s taken down by Yedlin. Baldock would’ve been clean through, but the referee decides - probably quite rightly - that it wasn’t an obvious scoring opportunity because he didn’t have control of the ball. Yellow for Yedlin.
36 mins: Meanwhile, in Blackpool...
Teams out here at Bloomfield Road. Good chance this could be Blackpool's lowest league gate of the season. pic.twitter.com/Lj9RjcLZTc
— Matt Scrafton (@matt_scrafton) February 28, 2017
34 mins: A rare excursion into attack from Brighton, as Stephens tries a shot from range that has most of the heat taken off it by a big deflection. Darlow scrambles to save it, and the crowd thinks it goes over the line for a corner, but nothing given. Newcastle then attack, but Atsu’s shot sails well over.
32 mins: Brighton become very cross after TV’s Josh Widdecom...sorry, Colback prevents Knockeart from taking a quick throw.
30 mins: Heavy attacks from Newcastle now. Atsu tries a cross-shot from the right, it loops up off a defender and Diame gets his feet all in a mess, otherwise he could’ve controlled that and had time to pick his spot inside the area. Holes opening up in the Brighton defence.
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28 mins: Better by Newcastle. Diame gets the better of Dunk, feeds Gouffran who shoots low and it’s saved by Stockdale, but Atsu was in absolute acres on the right of the box, and gives his colleague an absolute gobful.
27 mins: There’s Shelvey again, picking up a loose ball in midfield and striding towards the box, but he clips a cross to the back post, where zero attackers were waiting, and it drifts out of play.
25 mins: Shelvey will have to watch himself. Knockaert goes in with an al dente challenge on the midfielder, which Shelvey for some reason takes great offence to and has a little kick out at his opponent. Lucky that wasn’t more obvious, because it could’ve been curtains.
24 mins: Newcastle inching back into the game now. Shelvey finds some space just outside the box, advances towards it and takes a shot from range. It’s half-blocked, and falls into Ritchie’s path, but he and Mo Diame get in each other’s way and Dunk, despite having fallen over in the box, gets a toe to it and stops the attack.
23 mins: JR has some opinions: “You can’t call that foul on Clark. I don’t mean you personally, I mean the royal you. They were both at it. The only person that would make that call is Mike Dean. In fact if anything it looked more like a foul by Murray.”
21 mins: First sniff for Newcastle, and you could only call it a chance if you were feeling pretty generous. Ritchie hits a cross from the left, and it ends up going pretty close to the goal, sailing just wide of the far post.
19 mins: More pub help, this time in Norway. “I’m not really living in Oslo,” writes a nevertheless helpful Ove Lindgren, “but I found these two links.”
https://www.yelp.se/search?cflt=sportsbars&find_loc=Oslo
Shouldn’t really be encouraging this. Will you promise to still follow the MBM even if you find a suitable pub to watch the game in?
18 mins: Well, actually it’s not all going for Brighton - Sebastian Pocognoli, a doubt before the game, has only lasted 18 minutes - he’s replaced by Fikayo Tomori.
16 mins: It’s been all Brighton so far. Shelvey hasn’t been able to get on the ball for Newcastle in the middle, and when he can’t grab a game then Newcastle will struggle.
GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Newcastle (Murray 14)
Murray slots it right into the bottom corner, sending the keeper the wrong way but even if Darlow had guessed correctly, he might not have got there.
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PENALTY TO BRIGHTON!
From the resultant corner, there’s plenty of wrestling in the box, and referee Bobby Madley decides that Clark was the man fouling Murray, and points to the spot.
12 mins: And they try something smart. Murphy plays the free-kick short to Knockaert, who flicks it up and lobs the ball over the wall for Baldock, but he can’t quite get enough on a tricky spinning volley, and Darlow does enough to push it away.
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11 mins: Anthony Knockeart buzzes inside and gets to the ball just ahead of Matt Ritchie, just outside the area to the right. Ritchie fouls the Brighton man, and it’s a Brighton free-kick in a dangerous position.
10 mins: Radical.
It's Rafael, actually. pic.twitter.com/b61SAdP1xM
— Mac (@2NarMe) February 28, 2017
9 mins: Brighton on top here. Bruno plays a long ball from deep on the right, towards Baldock in the area. The striker loses his marker, but misdirects his header and Darlow can gather without much danger.
7 mins: Woof! Battered shot at goal by Brighton’s Elizabethan merchant/right-back Bruno, as the ball falls to him on the edge of the box, he catches a candy-sweet volley and sends it towards goal, but Darlow does well to not only save but thump it well clear of danger.
6 mins: I knew you guys would come up with the goods.
@NickMiller79 Apparently the Crown & Sceptre on Hereford Road or the rugby club are Tom Levesley's options.
— Mark Gristock (@Mark_Gristock) February 28, 2017
5 mins: Murphy looks lively early on. He cuts onto his right foot from the left side, crosses looking for Murray, but Clark just does enough to clear it away from the forward before he can do any damage.
3 mins: First sniff of a chance, as Brighton win a free-kick on the right, but it’s swung into the box, aiming for Shane Duffy up from the back, and it’s claimed by Toon keeper Karl Darlow.
2 mins: “Never mind Abergavenny,” asks Peter Hutton, reaching out once more to the MBM world party. “Oslo ?”
1 min: We’re away. Brighton are in their traditional blue and white striped shirts, blue shorts and blue stockings. Newcastle in their away strip of navy blue shirts with orange trim, navy blue shorts and orange stockings.
Can anyone help Tom Levesley out? “Looking for a pub to watch the game in Abergavenny, any local knowledge out there?”
Teams. Tunnel. Football.
Oliver Lewis, Newcastle fan, is worried. Although I think he might be excessively pessimistic, here. “We’ve been playing badly for a while and fully expect our promotion bid to implode in this and the next two matches. I don’t really understand why we’ve been so shoddy, Rafa is by no means perfect but he wants better football than what we’ve been playing and the squad is still probably the best in the league. I think to be honest it’s all Colback’s fault, all he does is hesitate on the ball before passing backwards or give away free kicks in dangerous areas. No idea how he once was touted as a potential England player, he can’t even hack it in the Championship.”
More pre-game reading. Your pals at WhoScored.com on how the next week could define Newcastle’s season.
In the next seven days Newcastle face three tough away trips: against Brighton tonight, Huddersfield on Saturday evening and Reading next Tuesday night. All three teams are in the top six and they boast the three best home records in the league this season in terms of points per game. Between them they have played 50 home games this season, winning 36 of them. Newcastle have been excellent on the road this season – picking up six more points from away matches (35) than any other team – but they will have to be at their best to take points off their direct rivals.
Some pre-game reading. A few weeks ago yer man Dom Fifield interviewed Brighton striker Glenn Murray. Have a look-see.
I’d sensed a determination from the moment I walked into the pre-season training camp in Tenerife,” Murray says. “Missing out on promotion last year on goal difference, and then in the play-offs, was sickening but there’s been no hangover. No one was allowed to feel sorry for himself.
“Instead, there was this burning desire to put it right. It wasn’t ‘look how close we came’, but ‘let’s do it properly this time’. The manager helped create that but it’s come from the players too. They’ve picked themselves up and reacted. I’m just glad I’ve played a part, and maybe my role really kicks in now. We’ve entered the mid-season grind when the football is anything but glamorous. It’s where we kicked on in League One when I was at the club first time round, and one when I’ve also experienced a team dropping off and fading. We have momentum and belief, but it’s about maintaining that now. We’ve not achieved anything yet.”
Surroundings were a little different the last time Brighton hosted Newcastle in the league. How ‘bout this, from 1991, with some familiar names scoring goals and a pretty choice soundtrack.
Interesting call by Rafa Benitez to play Yoan Gouffran up front, in the absence of Dwight Gayle. The obvious alternatives would have been Alexander Mitrovic or Daryl Murphy, but perhaps he wanted someone a little more mobile up top rather than either of those pair of big trees. Brighton’s team is more or less as expected - indeed, it’s the same as the last two games, the only real debates whether Sebastian Pocognoli would be fit to play at left-back, or perhaps whether Solly March might return in place of Jamie Murphy. Yes to the former, no to the latter.
Team news
Brighton and Hove Albion
Stockdale; Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Pocognoli; Knockaert, Stephens, Sidwell, Murphy; Baldock, Murray. Subs: Walton, Huenemeier, Tomori, Kayal, March, Hemed, Akpom.
Newcastle United
Darlow; Yedlin, Clark, Lascelles, Dummett; Shelvey, Colback; Ritchie, Diame, Atsu; Gouffran. Subs: Elliot, Hanley, Anita, Mitrovic, Perez, Murphy.
Referee: Bobby Madley (Wakefield)
Preamble
A humdinger. A blooter. A pulsing, undulating, flowing beast. A potential classic. One for the ages. A highly-anticipated TOP of the table CLASH between the two TITANS of the CHAMPIONSHIP. What we’re trying to say here, from a minute-by-minuter who has always struggled with hyperbole and excessive promotion, is that this could well be quite the game.
Newcastle were in a curious position from the start of this season. In one respect they couldn’t really win, because not just promotion but winning the Championship by a healthy margin was broadly considered the bare minimum. On the other this was considered as something close to the start of a rebirth, Rafa Benitez having brought some sort of pride and enthusiasm back to a club previously lost in a smog of ennui. It was also a season of probably winning a bunch of games, a sensation they hadn’t really felt for a while.
The former of those two aspects hasn’t really emerged, and wasn’t especially realistic. As any fule no, the Championship isn’t as easy as all that. Predictions that they would sweep the division aside were perhaps foolhardy, and haven’t proved accurate. They go into this game second in the table, behind Brighton who are a feelgood story based on the notion of building a football club, carefully, cautiously, with due delicacy and attention.
“We’ve established a good level of consistency and that is a credit to the players and their desire,” said manager Chris Hughton, about Brighton’s season. “Where we are, above Newcastle, is probably different to what most people would have expected. The expectations on them are different because of the club they are and the squad they have. They are strong and recruited well in summer. But I don’t want to take anything away from our players, or our aims and aspirations. I am surprised [to be above Newcastle], but we’ve got a team who have worked hard enough to have deserved it.”
In a way this is the Championship’s biggest game of the season but also one of its least perilous. The chances are that both these teams will be promoted, so it might ultimately just be down to the glorified weeing up a wall contest of who finishes top. That said, the way teams can collapse and rise up again, every point is valuable.
It’s known that the Championship is the best division in England. These are the best two teams in it. Step right up.
Kick-off: 9.45pm GMT
Nick will be here shortly. Until then, here’s more from Brighton manager Chris Hughton, preparing to take on the team he led into the Premier League in 2010:
Whatever I was able to give the players, they gave me more. That club gave me an opportunity and I feel I’ve developed as a manager since ... But the achievement here, I think, would be greater just for where we are as a football club. Newcastle are an established Premier League club with massive support, but this club has never been in the Premier League.
We’ve established a good level of consistency and that is a credit to the players and their desire. Where we are, above Newcastle, is probably different to what most people would have expected. The expectations on them are different because of the club they are and the squad they have. They are strong and recruited well in summer.
But I don’t want to take anything away from our players, or our aims and aspirations. I am surprised [to be above Newcastle], but we’ve got a team who have worked hard enough to have deserved it.
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