Eddie Howe reveals frustration over early VAR call as staff were 'adamant' Newcastle deserved a penalty

Newcastle United were denied an early penalty claim by VAR in their 1-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion at St James' Park on Saturday.

Eddie Howe's side started brilliantly against the Seagulls on Saturday and literally all that was missing from the performance, especially in the opening 30 minutes was a goal.

Lewis Hall as well as thousands of Newcastle fans in the ground were convinced the Magpies should have had a penalty as early as the eighth minute after Joel Veltman handled the ball in the area following a slip.

Referee Peter Bankes wasn't interested and VAR took a long look at the incident but saw no reason to overturn the decision.

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Eddie Howe says his staff were sure Veltman's handball should have been deemed a penalty

Eddie Howe said after the game (via The Chronicle) that his coaching staff were 'adamant' it was a penalty but admitted at the time that he'd not seen the incident back.

“I haven't seen it back but a couple of our coaches looked at it back and were adamant it was a penalty.

"When you have that kind of start in the game, you want a goal for your endeavours and that was all that was missing in the opening 35 minutes. If we were 2-0 up you'd go that was one of the best performances we've had in a long time. Goals always change perspectives of performances and that's why I have to keep some kind of perspective on that.”

Newcastle can't keep relying on penalties to get points from games

As Howe rightly pointed out, when you play like that you want a goal for your efforts, but when you play like that, you shouldn't be relying on the referee handing out penalties to bring you goals.

With such domination there is no excuse for not finding a way to score, not with players like Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak on the pitch.

We're sure it's a confidence thing and all it will take is one goal to open the floodgates, but you can't score goals if you don't take shots.