Brighton (H) player ratings: Not many players shone in a frustrating contest that summed up our season

In a game that was a microcosm of the club's 2023/24 campaign, Newcastle played out a frustrating 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion and could have no qualms with the result.

Nobody in black and white elevated themselves enough to secure a vital three points in the quest for European football. However, Anthony Gordon, Lewis Hall, Elliot Anderson, and Tino Livramento gave it a good go.

The first three were involved in a well-worked goal on the stroke of half-time, with Hall releasing Gordon, who performed some trickery before slotting in Anderson. He kept his composure to square the ball for Sean Longstaff, who finished well.

Brighton were already ahead at that point, unfortunately, with Joel Veltman scoring from a corner after some poor defending from Dan Burn, Emil Krafth, and Anderson, plus typically risk-averse goalkeeping from Martin Dúbravka.

The second-half introductions of Joelinton, Miguel Almirón, and Harvey Barnes—who was woeful (and not for the first time)—did little to raise hopes of a crucial victory, with Brighton seeing the game out with relative ease.

There was a Gordon penalty shout and a rightly disallowed Gordon goal, but the home fans were given little else to cheer about before the post-match procession around the pitch that saw appearances from Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Jamie Reuben, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

Jonás Gutiérrez and Papiss Cissé were the half-time guests, and what we'd have given for a prime Cissé performance from Alexander Isak here. Sadly, it seems the Swede was less than 100% and this was one of his poorest games for Newcastle. Callum Wilson was also absent yet again through illness.

With all that said, here are our final home ratings of the season, with a couple of hard-earned 8s, a pair of 4s, and one very deserved 3...

The game was there to be won but Newcastle couldn't manage it

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United

Martin Dúbravka – 6

He was rooted to his line for Brighton's goal but Dubs deserves credit for the big save he made from Welbeck after Burn lost the striker in the first half. This might have been his last game at St James' Park and we're sorry to say we won't miss him all that much.

Tino Livramento – 7

Livramento was on the cusp of a marvellous display here but never quite connected with the final pass on one of his many raids forward. He had a solid game, though, with his defensive work particularly good under a stern examination from Adingra and Welbeck.

Emil Krafth – 6

He just never got to grips with the long, low pass from Verbruggen into Welbeck, who gave him a very difficult afternoon overall. The Swede always seemed a few yards off where he needed to be and his lack of quality on the ball was a hindrance to us as well.

Dan Burn (c) – 6

Burn's been brilliant since being moved back into the centre due to Botman and Lascelles' injuries, but he found it quite tough at times today. There was one particularly poor moment that gave Welbeck a big chance, but he recovered well from that and was solid otherwise.

Lewis Hall – 8

This was easily Hall's best all-round game in black and white, with the left-back playing a crucial role in the equaliser with a lovely through ball for Gordon. He defended well in difficult circumstances and his use of the ball was extremely good, with 93% of passes completed.

Sean Longstaff – 7

Longy finished brilliantly again for the equaliser, though with just 32 touches he still didn't do enough to impact proceedings aside from that. Still, this was one of his better performances in a tricky campaign and it's nice to see him ending 2023/24 on a bit of a high.

Bruno Guimarães – 7

Having carried the team on his back for months now, Bruno needs some others to step up to take the weight off him. He tried his utmost to make things happen today, with as many key passes as anyone else, but he was quite far from his very best level overall.

Elliot Anderson – 7

We thought Anderson was Player of the Match in St James', but then we watched the highlights back and realised that he was primarily at fault for Brighton's goal when losing Veltman. He was excellent otherwise, though, capping a purposeful display with a fine assist.

Anthony Gordon – 8 ⭐️

Although not at his peak, this was another team-leading performance from Gordon who might have won yet another penalty with a more easily swayed referee. He played a big part in Longstaff's goal and kept trying to make things happen, seeing a late effort chalked off.

Alexander Isak – 4

This was probably Isak's worst display for Newcastle but it came out after the game that like Wilson he's been struggling with illness this week. He just looked a yard off it throughout, being a bit slow in the press and a bit static whenever we were trying to progress the ball.

Jacob Murphy – 4

Murph hit his highest high at Turf Moor last weekend but this was more of a return to his normal output, with next to nothing coming off for him. There was no faulting his effort, but fans around us were clamouring for him to be substituted much earlier than he was.

Even one of the strongest benches of the season couldn't save us

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United

Joelinton – 5

We were delighted to see Joelinton back at St James' after a long absence but there were echoes of Cheick Tioté's second season here, with the Brazilian simply trying to do too much and not being a capable enough passer of the ball to accomplish anything of note.

Miguel Almirón – 5

What on Earth was he doing for that dive? It's something he's never eliminated from his game, sadly, and while Barnes should have released him sooner there was no excuse for him to be offside for the late Gordon goal that was rightly disallowed.

Harvey Barnes – 3

He seems to veer from the sublime to the ridiculous with not much in between and this was another shoddy cameo from the winger. He missed a very decent chance, was correctly booked for a poor tackle, and took too long to release Almirón for the disallowed goal.

Kieran Trippier – 6

Fielded at left-back for the first time this season due to how well Tino was doing on the right, Trippier wasn't given enough time to influence things on his return. It's great to have him back in the squad, though, and we wouldn't be shocked to see him start the next game.

Next up for the Magpies is Manchester United away

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Sixth place is still in our hands, thankfully, but we're hoping for favours from Nottingham Forest and Arsenal before our trip to Old Trafford on Wednesday evening for what looks set to be one of our most important matches of the season.

The Red Devils are in disarray at the moment and though they might have Lisandro Martínez available again, they're extremely light in defence due to injuries. Today's performance doesn't inspire much confidence but we can surely go there and win (again).

It's an 8 p.m. BST kick-off that will be broadcast live on Sky and we would love it, love it if we beat them.

Howay the lads!