IT SMELLS LIKE TOON SPIRIT!

Desperate Newcastle fight back as Hayden goal gives Howe hope of survival

THE SMILE on Eddie Howe’s face looked more like relief than celebration.

Isaac Hayden had swivelled in the box and turned Newcastle’s outlook around, pulling them level. Finally, the team Howe will soon inherit was showing some fight, having been roused from a first-half slumber that showed the extent of the task facing their new boss.

When Howe took his seat at kickoff in the directors’ box at the Amex Stadium, Newcastle were bottom of the Premier League. Nothing they showed in the first half made that a surprise, and even after Hayden’s 66th-minute strike cancelled out Leandro Trossard’s first-half penalty, they only hauled themselves off the foot of the table on goal difference.

They were even gifted the chance of a stolen victory when they faced Lewis Dunk in goal for Brighton for five minutes of stoppage time, after Robert Sanchez was sent off for tripping Callum Wilson when clean through and the hosts had used all their substitutes. But victory proved too warm a welcome for Howe to enjoy.

Regardless, he will have been encouraged by the second-half fightback from his new players. This dead squad walking, charged with turning round Newcastle’s fortunes while the threat of being replaced in January hangs over them, were much improved after half-time. Though it would have been difficult to perform any worse.

Interim boss Graeme Jones must have given his side a parting rocket at the break in his final game in the Newcastle dugout before handing over to Howe.

The latter may have been admiring the judgment of Unai Emery until midway through the second half, when Matt Ritchie found space down the left and floated a cross to the far post. There, Ciaran Clark knocked the ball down and Hayden turned and fired past Sanchez.

‘I think [Howe] needs to build on what he’s seen tonight,’ said Jones. ‘He’s seen togetherness, a team that added a bit more control second-half. He’ll inherit a team that was capable of pressing a brilliant Brighton team.’

As for Graham Potter’s side, it means no wins in six since they had the chance to go top of the Premier League at Crystal Palace in late September and a return to the dark days of last season with much promise and not enough to show for it on the scoresheet. They still sit sixth, but this was two points thrown away.

‘It’s hard to control things for 90 minutes in this league,’ said Potter. ‘But it’s a point and we move on.’

On 20 minutes, Clark crashed into Trossard in the area and after referee David Coote initially waved away Brighton’s claims, his VAR Craig Pawson asked him to think again. A short check on the pitchside monitor confirmed contact, a penalty was awarded and Trossard thumped the ball down the middle past Karl Darlow.

It only increased Brighton’s dominance of possession, and Newcastle seemed happy to oblige. Trossard, Tariq Lamptey and Marc Cucurella were all constant threats, as Brighton forced their visitors to follow them short then long, wide then inside, on their way to having nearly 70 per cent of the ball in the first half.

After the frustrated Newcastle support launched a chant of ‘attack, attack, attack’ — and it did seem that Jones might have forgotten to tell his players himself — a chance finally fell their way in the 42nd minute. But Allan Saint-Maximin was denied pointblank by Sanchez — and then saw the flag go up to rule him offside.

Almost immediately after half-time Trossard went close again, slipped in behind by

Adam Lallana before firing a low shot that Darlow blocked with his feet. Trossard then latched on to the rebound and floated a cross to Cucurella, but he headed wide.

Then the hosts’ punishment arrived for not putting the game to bed, in the form of Hayden’s first Premier League goal for nearly two years.

In the 90th minute, Wilson went through, went round Sanchez and went down with the goal gaping. Another VAR review showed why, as his legs were clipped by the Spaniard before he could tap in a winner. Sanchez was dismissed and Dunk took the gloves, but Newcastle could not complete the siege.