Here we go again then.
After six consecutive weekends being spoiled at St James Park reaching back to January, it was difficult to really understand what this was.
Last weekend saw clubs beneath us gain points and initiated murmurings of relegation, exacerbated by a TV graphic predicting Newcastle in an unlikely 17th spot having garnered precisely zero points from the remaining twelve.
In a week dominated by the non-story of an executive meeting in Northumberland, the big story was whether Newcastle could justify any optimism by delivering a long overdue performance on the pitch. The fact that the visitors were yet another bogey team gave little cause for encouragement.
I have to say, it’s maybe wrong to put Brighton in the same box as the unbeatables (in the league) of Liverpool and Bournemouth. The Seagulls’ visits to SJP post takeover consisted of two United wins and a draw before last season, where a pair of disappointing showings were hammered home by an infuriating incapability to deal with Danny Welbeck. The fact that the reverse of this fixture has yet to see an away win in our shared PL decade probably adds to the doom mongering that surrounds this match rolling round.
The starting line up did little to encourage those hoping for change. Hall remained on the bench and hopes of a Woltemade/Wissa revival proved unfounded as a slightly odd front set of Osula Willock and Murphy were offset by the return of the big three in midfield. Luckily for us, midfield was where the game would be won.
This game was utterly fascinating as an observation piece on Nick Pope. I’m going to say now that, were Aaron Ramsdale in goal today, I think Newcastle would have lost. Ramsdale just simply doesn’t stop goals in the way Pope can, and it took him less than two minutes to demonstrate this with a low save from Hinshelwood. This was part of a worrying onset of early Brighton pressure, with a subsequent effort dipping onto the top of the bar from Baleba (probably soon to be sold for about £300m to Chelsea in spite of them being in more debt than the Weimar Republic. PSR rules though, eh?).
The remainder of the first half was, for me, bittersweet. On a warm and sunny Tyneside day United delivered an encouraging and uplifting performance which, while not perfect, created a pang of regret over how many of the recent dropped points could have been salvaged were it not for the enforced absence of Bruno.
The set up was different, with Tonali sitting so deep he was often the last man at the back while Joelinton was obviously tasked with recreating the left wing duopoly with Willock that had worked so well in the heady days of 22/23. All of this was powered by the maestro pulling the strings in the centre, as I wondered on multiple occasions whether Bruno’s seemingly benign ball recoveries or drawing of fouls may have been the sort of move that led to panic and unnecessary concession in his absence. Build the new team around this lad, please.
Twas indeed said aforementioned Bruno that created the breakthrough some twelve minutes in, as he seized on a loose ball from Joelinton’s break and calmly sent an absolute havoc creator over to the right for Murphy to run on to. Verbruggen came haring out of his goal in a style that suggested he could be ideal as Pope’s successor if the rumours are true. His rash tackle attempt on Murphy resulted in huge swathes of the crowd demanding retribution, myself included. The fact I’d diverted my eyes towards the ref meant I missed Murphy’s admirable persistence in regaining his feet and sending a lovely cross over with the Brighton keeper utterly stranded. Next thing I knew Osula was rising to head into an unguarded net.
The optics of this were smashing in the lovely sunshine but the horrific truth remained that Newcastle keep chucking leads that are maintained far deeper into games than this. This time seemed different as United used the goal as an excuse to grab hold of the game, rather than shrink back from it.
First, Joelinton announced his return to the team by banjoing Wieffer out of the game, the visitors illustrating their extreme south coast status by going on a bit soft about this perfectly acceptable bit of thunderous challenging. Then Willock seemed to have a flash of his former self, pelting into the box at full tilt before his attempt at a cross was deflected behind.
Bruno was back on corner duty and his initial near post effort created enough bedlam that Brighton conceded again, leading to a collectors item as Newcastle scored a standard A to B corner for the first time in what may be a good year. Bruno put the inswinger over and Burn rose to redirect a thumping header into the opposite corner. Some different elements but hard not to think of one of the greatest moments most of us have witnessed as BDB celebrated his tenth goal for United. It was also his second against his former club, having headed in the last time we won this fixture in 2023. Good omens all round I reckon but being two goals up was as much of a novelty as the sunshine peppering the pitch.
The Pope quandary gave more food for thought as it feels like the relationship between the goalie and Malick Thiaw is a fraught one. The German’s backpass saw Pope attempting to clear under undue pressure, only to belt the ball off Hinshelwood and subject everyone to a torrid few milliseconds as the ball first bounced against the post then fell kindly enough for Botman to get there first and boom it clear. The fear of this going pear-shaped was constant.
There was still a chance for everything to be settled by half time, as a well worked free kick routine saw Botman head over and for Thiaw to be denied from close range. Half time saw the warm applause of the finest opening half in recent memory.
The second half opened to a wild mess of pure panic and palpitations, I mean why wouldn’t it? Brighton were already pressuring when Pope’s uncertain kick was easily won in midfield and a delightful series of interplays saw the visitors waltz through the entire United team, ending with a neat exchange between Welbeck and Hinshelwood that saw the latter smash in a likely goal of the month contender.
Absolute terror ensued as the whole ground now resigned themselves to Brighton equalising and then probably winning. They swarmed the goal and everyone was still twitching from a ludicrous handball shout against Thiaw when Kostoulas reacted to smash in an overhead kick that brought a simply magnificent reaction save out of Pope. I’m telling you, Ramsdale lets that in.
This didn’t serve as a settler and sort-of-former-player-come-pain in the backside Yankubu Minteh decided against his usual goal in favour of belting a near open goal into the Gallowgate end. Here mate, we didn’t want to sell you, PSR is a rigged up mess that we hate more than anyone, so stop it with your vendetta eh? If you’ve an axe to grind it’s with Arsenal, Spurs and the other self-proclaimed, so let’s have more of these big old misses and maybe save the goals for Sunderland eh?
Unfortunately, I need to report an act of inhumane cruelty from the stadium announcer, and this time it’s not his pointless, atmosphere-destroying second read out of the team pre kick-off. As the 90 minutes ticked over, the replacement of Bruno with Ramsey was announced without any reference to however many minutes of added time there were. With 50,000+ people entirely convinced that a Brighton goal was inevitable, this was an utterly barbaric display and someone needs to be pelted for it.
As it was, this was a rarity in that United always looked dangerous on the counter as Brighton chased the game. First Hall, then Joelinton crafted solid openings that couldn’t be finished before Burn’s long ball forward caused Van Hecke to make a mess and let Wissa in. He tried to get round Verbruggen and was thwarted, but the loose ball broke to Barnes who calmly controlled before picking his spot to thunder in a lovely settler. If you’d surveyed the entire ground on the scorer of an injury time goal I reckon about 5% would have picked a Newcastle player.
Nice to get one over on these after they’ve been so problematic for us of late. However, I still departed the stadium feeling a bit grounded. Yes, these three points should completely eradicate us from that relegation graphic and today was a welcome positive, but I can’t really celebrate rocketing up to 13th place until Palace play I’m afraid.
We maybe have to face the other side of the coin now, as the week up to Forest may be riven with pontifications about whether we can snatch a European spot. This is also highly unlikely and I’ll just take the positives of being able to report on a win. Yay.
Newcastle 3 Brighton 1 – Saturday 2 May 2026 3pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Osula 12, Burn 24, Barnes 90+5
Hinshelwood 61
Possession was Newcastle 33% Brighton 67%
Total shots were Newcastle 13 Brighton 13
Shots on target were Newcastle 6 Brighton 4
Corners were Newcastle 2 Brighton 10
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 24 Brighton 26
Newcastle team v Brighton:
Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Bruno (Ramsey 91), Tonali, Joelinton, Willock (Hall 68), Jacob Murphy (Barnes 68), Osula (Wissa 68)
Unused subs:
Ramsdale, Trippier, Gordon, Elanga, Woltemade
You can follow the author on BlueSky @bigjimwinsalot.bsky.social