Dan Burn says there was a half-time inquest at Brentford after Newcastle United served up one of their worst first halves of the Premier League season.
The Magpies trailed to Ivan Toney's penalty at the break but could have been three or four goals down had it not been for the brilliance of Nick Pope. The ex-Burnley stopped kept out another Toney spot-kick and made numerous blocks while United were also saved by an early VAR decision for an offside from the ex-Newcastle striker.
Speaking after playing a part in the fight back in West London, Burn said: "First half, we were poor. It’s been a tough week physically and mentally but we made a few adjustments at half time and we were brilliant in the second half.
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"It shows the character we’ve got in the team. We’re delighted with the three points. We were lucky it was still just the one at half-time. Credit to the gaffer, he changed it and we put a lot more pressure on them and took our chances."
Indeed, Howe subbed both Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy and threw on Callum Wilson and Anthony Gordon with both offering more attacking impetus. There was no doubt that the first half belonged well and truly to Thomas Frank's side.
Yet Burn felt that it was never going to be easy against a Bees team that had not lost since September at home in the Prem.
Burn said: "Brentford are a good team and asked a lot of questions. We knew what they were going to do so there weren’t any surprises and they haven’t been beaten at home since September. It was always going to be tough but I thought we weathered the storm pretty well."
In a game dominated by VAR calls with referee Chris Kavanagh having his hands full throughout. Burn admits he'd never been involved in a clash with so many referrals to the VAR hub at Stockley Park.
Burn, who felt that the penalty that Toney did convert was 'soft' said: "I don’t think I've been involved in a game like that. They put the ball in the box that much so it was always going to be like that.
"The second penalty was pretty soft to be fair but we reacted well "In slow-mo, you could blow up for a free kick in any challenge as there’s always contact. They normally even themselves out over the course of a season anyway."
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