Newcastle boss felt Brighton's winning goal should have been disallowed

Tomer Hemed got the only goal when he hooked home Dale Stephens' header from Pascal Gross' free kick on 51 minutes but Newcastle manager Benitez thought there was a foul by Bruno on Chancel Mbemba as the set-piece was delivered.

He said: "We did some good things, we had some chances, they had some chances and we finished the game very strong and created a lot of chances.

"I'm disappointed because the goal is a clear foul. We didn't defend well, I will say that, but at the same time a player has pushed and not blocked. It is a foul and the referee is in a good position.

"We have to learn from this defeat. In the Premier League, you have to take your chances and have to be stronger in defence if you want to be sure of the win.

"Today we made some mistakes and paid for that and didn't take our chances. This kind of game when you have a team who is more or less your level, it's important to get something. I think we deserved to get at least one point."

Brighton boss Chris Hughton disagreed there was a foul in the build-up to Hemed's goal and said: "What you saw is what you see in every game and it certainly wasn't a foul. It's just the same as what you see in any game.

"There's one bit that we managed to get somebody in to head the ball back but you've still got to finish it. I thought he still had a lot of work to do. A really good finish, he deserved it."