Brighton 1-1 Newcastle: Howe happy with a point after late Isak penalty

Eddie Howe admitted it was a good point for Newcastle at Brighton this afternoon after Alexander Isak’s late penalty salvaged a 1-1 draw.

The Magpies had two earlier appeals for a spot-kick rejected by VAR – one after a foul on Anthony Gordon that was outside the area and another following a shocking dive from Joe Willock – but referee Craig Pawson was proved right when he pointed to the spot for a third time after Yasin Ayari handballed.

Isak stepped up with a minute remaining and slotted home to cancel out the opener from former Newcastle winger Yankuba Minteh.

Newcastle get their penalty!

Alexander Isak slots the ball home! pic.twitter.com/iwgOiX3Qje

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 4, 2025

Brighton ought to have had a penalty of their own when Sandro Tonali kicked out at Matt O’Reilly but the visitors rode their luck to claim a valuable point in their bid to claim a Champions League place.

Howe happy with a draw

Howe told Sky Sports: “It’s probably a good point for us, even though we came here to win. Our final pass and cross probably wasn’t at its finest level. 

“We were very disappointed with how we conceded. We did enough to warrant a point, if not more. I thought we were the team trying to win the game. Brighton are a difficult team to stop. We chased the game with intelligence and ultimately got our reward.”

Diego Gomez and Callum Wilson both had excellent chances to win it for their respective sides in injury-time but the spoils were shared.

“We were going for it which I think we have to in our position and I’m proud of how we fought back in the game,” added Howe, whose side have to play Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal in their final three games.

“It’s all to play for. We have three huge games, three very tough games in different ways. Two of them are at home and we hope that can make the difference.”

Yankuba Minteh opens the scoring for Brighton! pic.twitter.com/WuLoX8eACP

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 4, 2025

Hurzeler annoyed by sloppy Brighton

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler was not happy at his side’s performance with the draw doing little for the Seagulls’ hopes of qualifying for Europe.

He said: “I have a mixture of feelings. I’m proud of the team for sticking together but it was not our perfect match in possession. Overall there is a mixture of feelings but we try to take the positives away.

“We conceded a cheap penalty. We have to accept it and try to make the best out of it. I saw a good team performance although we made some easy mistakes and we weren’t able to control the game like we wanted to.”