Thrashing on Tyneside: Newcastle 4-1 Brighton photos
Exactly one thousand Brighton fans braved the Thursday night trip to Newcastle United with many who appear in these photos probably wondering why they bothered as the Albion were hammered 4-1 at St James’ Park.
An intense schedule of 15 games packed into the final eight weeks of the campaign appears to be catching up with the Seagulls now, the consequences being wildly inconsistent results and performances.
Lose 3-1 at Nottingham Forest. Beat Wolves 6-0. Lose 5-1 against Everton at the Amex. Beat Arsenal away 3-0. And now, lose 4-1 to Newcastle.
Roberto De Zerbi was forced into further rotation of his squad, meaning Facundo Buonanotte and Jan Paul van Hecke were given rare starts against the Saudi Sportswashers.
The Albion bench meanwhile consisted of seven outfield players under the age of 21. Alexis Mac Allister was the only substitute to have been a Premier League regular for more than six months.
Such a youthful and inexperienced squad faced a Newcastle side looking to move a step closer to Champions League qualification backed by a raucous sold out stadium.
The Toon took a deserved lead with 22 minutes on the clock, although they needed a Brighton player to score for them. Deniz Undav beat Jason Steele with a superb glancing header from a Kieran Trippier corner for a fine own goal.
Former Albion defender Dan Burn doubled the advantage on the stroke of half time when heading home another dangerous set piece from the excellent Trippier.
Undav scored at the right end early in the second half to make it 2-1. It remained that way until the final 10 minutes, when Brighton threw everyone forward in an attempt to find an equaliser.
Unfortunately, Newcastle were able to take ruthless advantage of the spaces now left in the Albion defence by scoring twice on the break to make the game safe.
Callum Wilson restored the Toon’s two-goal advantage with 89 on the clock and Bruno Guimaraes completed the rout in injury time.
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