Newcastle 3-1 Brighton: Will Osula, Dan Burn and Harvey Barnes score as Eddie Howe's side end five-match losing streak

Newcastle United ended a dismal run of five straight defeats with a 3-1 win over a Europe-chasing Brighton at St James' Park.

Will Osula scored Newcastle's opener against the run of play thanks to a Bart Verbruggen error before Dan Burn headed home the second against his former employers.

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Jack Hinshelwood's second-half goal restored the nerves among the Newcastle crowd, who have seen their side give up the most points from winning positions.

Those nerves nearly turned into disappointment when former Newcastle winger Yankuba Minteh missed a sitter but second-half substitute Harvey Barnes fired home a Toon third to end Brighton's five-game unbeaten run.

Newcastle, who began the day in 15th, move up to 13th in the league while Brighton suffered a blow in their chase for Europe, dropping to seventh. Brighton could fall to 10th if results this weekend do not go their way.

How Newcastle stopped the rot

It looked like more of the same for Newcastle. Brighton had made a stronger start at St James' Park with Nick Pope keeping out Hinshelwood two minutes in, before Carlos Baleba watched his long-range strike hit the bar.

However, the momentum of the first half changed when Verbruggen bizarrely rushed off his line and slipped in an attempt to close down Jacob Murphy, who crossed into the area for Osula to head into an empty net.

Newcastle then took charge, offering wave after wave of attacks before Dan Burn converted a Bruno Guimaraes corner. Fabian Hurzeler revealed on Friday that his side had brought in an MMA specialist to help them deal with the growing threat of set-pieces; however, their expert advice was not followed as Burn headed in Newcastle's second with ease.

While Newcastle were comfortable in the opening 45, a lax ball from Pope nearly gifted Brighton a way back as his clearance deflected off Hinshelwood and struck the post.

Hinshelwood did find his goal as Brighton started the second half on top, linking up smartly with Danny Welbeck before firing past Pope.

The Newcastle stopper did, however, deny Charalampos Kostoulas' acrobatic effort late on, though. As Brighton continued to push, a golden opportunity emerged, but an unmarked Minteh sent his tap-in over the bar.

Brighton will rue not taking advantage of their late ascendancy, though, as moments after Joelinton selfishly chose to take on a shot rather than squaring the ball to Barnes, the wide man converted to put the result beyond doubt in injury time.

What the managers said...

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe:

"It's funny because I didn't get eight hours last night.

"I'll level with you, there was a moment where I woke up and I thought: 'Oh dear, what day is it?'.

"Which is really unusual for me, I'm a very good sleeper. There was obviously an anxiety for me last night where I'm going into today's game just wanting the team to perform.

"I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight, certainly with the emotions of that game I've got no doubt that I will.

"Your outlook on things changes, as much as you try to stay very level, things just look a bit brighter with winning so hopefully we can enjoy next week.

"From an emotional level that was a massive win for us, we knew it, everyone knew it internally.

"I think we've been building towards that for a few weeks. I think the training has been really strong, really committed, very competitive and I'm a big believer that you always end up getting your rewards for that if your work continues to be strong.

"Credit to the players for sticking together, staying united, behind the scenes they've been excellent.

"At times we rode a little bit of luck today, but I think we more than deserved that in the recent weeks."

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler:

"You can feel it from when we had the first chance that they always created this danger. You could also feel it on the pitch and also in the stadium.

"It was unlucky for us in the end, we missed the chances in the end, we weren't able to manage these key moments well.

"Therefore we have to analyse it, we definitely can defend better as a team, we definitely can manage the key moments better.

"When we just focus on performance and how we tried to play our football then I think the players did everything what they can do.

"They showed great effort always to believe they can win this game. We will take the positives away and we will analyse it, then we bounce back."

'Massive' win comes at exactly the right time for under-pressure Howe

Sky Sports' Rich Morgan:

Saturday's hard-earned win over in-form Brighton & Hove Albion felt big for Eddie Howe and Newcastle United.

The Newcastle manager had what he described as "challenging conversations" with the club's Saudi owners on Thursday, with his own future having been a topic of intense debate in recent weeks after a worrying run of nine defeats in 12 Premier League games which had left the Magpies languishing down in 14th place in the table ahead of kick-off with the high-flying Seagulls.

However, in front of Newcastle's owners, with chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and co-owner Jamie Reuben in attendance at St James' Park, the home side impressed in a first half that saw them record a non-penalty expected goals total of 2.14, the eighth highest this season, to lead 2-0 at half-time.

And while the Magpies were made to work hard for the three points in the second half, they held on to end their joint-longest losing run under Howe in the Premier League to move up to 13th in the table and now just three points off Fulham in 10th.

Howe later admitted he would "sleep well" after this "massive' win that with still three games left gives Newcastle a chance of squeaking into Europe next season.

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