Eddie Howe bemoans VAR decisions that cost Newcastle two points against Everton - feels penalty was harsh

Newcastle United fans definitely felt it was a case of two points dropped last night as an 88th-minute penalty saw Everton rescue a point at St James' Park.

The Magpies should have had the game put to bed long before substitute Paul Dummett channelled his inner John Cena and brought down Ashley Young in the box with there being absolutely no danger whatsoever.

In our post-match writeup last night I had to use a lot of restraint to not go all-in on Paul Dummett with an expletive-laden rant, but in hindsight, it is hard to really blame him too much given how little football he's played in the last two years. He was bound to be nervous and panicky and desperate to make his mark. Well, he certainly did that.

I honestly didn't think there'd be anybody who would question that it was anything but a stonewall penalty and was actually shocked to see it need an on-field review, but it turns out Eddie Howe wasn't convinced.

Howe's comments on the penalty didn't make much sense

Speaking to TNT Sport after the game Howe spoke of the disallowed goal and the penalty decision as being two times VAR got involved in tight calls which prompted the question whether he feels hard done by with the penalty decision.

"I think it's both players grappling each other, unfortunately for us with Paul's arm being quite high around Ashley Young I think it made the difference for VAR and that's why they made the decision. But it's one of those that probably could have gone either way."

It was indeed two players grappling, until Dummett got Young in a headlock and dragged the poor old man to the ground.

Newcastle should have had the game wrapped up before the penalty incident

I'm all for putting the blinkers on or looking at the world through black-and-white specs, but sometimes you just have to hold your hands up, and this was one of those times. There were no excuses, it was definitely a penalty.

In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn't have mattered as Newcastle should have been out of sight by then anyway, but some great goalkeeping by Jordan Pickford and some poor decision-making in the final third by a few of our forwards, meant that we never got that second goal which would have put the game to bed.

Ultimately it was a game of substitutions. Sean Dyche made three substitutions that improved his side, Eddie Howe was forced into a substitution that made our side worse and ultimately cost us the win.