STAT ATTACK

the first half on top with Shelvey having a goalbound effort blocked by the outstanding Shane Duffy, Matt Ritchie heading narrowly wide and Kenedy just a whisker away from bursting the net with a long-range thunderbolt.

There were eight minutes of stoppage time following a horrific collision between

Glenn Murray and Federico Fernandez early on, with the Seagulls veteran requiring lengthy treatment before being stretchered off to sympathetic applause from the 50,329 crowd.

Brighton’s players looked understandably distressed but dug deep to take the lead through Kayal – though he knew little about his goal. It was Jose Izquierdo who deserves much of the credit for only their eighth away strike in the past 12 months. Duffy brilliantly knocked a right-wing corner into the Colombian’s path.

And his crisp half-volley from 18 yards out took a deflection off Kayal past a wrong-footed Martin Dubravka. Newcastle’s response was to drive forward and, in Shelvey, they had the game’s most creative performer. But as Benitez knows only too well his side are sadly lacking in firepower.

Shelvey always looked the best bet for an equaliser and he came desperately close NEWCASTLE have lost all five home league matches so far – a fate suffered by only three teams in top-flight history: Manchester United (1930-31), Portsmouth

(2009-10) and Bolton

(2011-12). to earning his side a point only for Ryan to pull off a magnificent save, flinging himself to his right to keep out the midfielder’s 78th-minute free-kick.

Benitez said: “Sometimes you talk about games you cannot win because the other team is too strong and you have to defend but today was the opposite.

“We had 27 attempts, corners and free-kicks. With the chances we created, we should have beaten Brighton.”

Hughton said: “It is a big win for us and we really had to earn it.

“We were up against a side desperate to get a result and we faced a lot more shots than we normally would.

“It was a game we had to put bodies on the line.

“I thought our keeper and centre-halves were outstanding.”