Eddie Howe on the good, bad and ugly from 1-0 defeat to Brighton

Eddie Howe believes there was "a lot of good" about Newcastle's performance in yesterday's 1-0 defeat to Brighton, but accepts we must improve in the final third after more missed chances came back to haunt us.

Speaking to the media after the game, Howe said on that he was "hugely disappointed with the result" but "heartened by the performance really overall."

"I thought it was a good 65 minutes of really high-level football. Last part of the game I wasn't so happy, but I thought there was a lot of good today."

"I thought there was really good energy and speed about our play and our performance. Really, all that was missing was the goals and the icing on the cake for all that work."

When asked about how Brighton managed to score from their very first opportunity, Howe explained how the game massively frustrated him and his side.

"Yeah it was massively against the run of play. I think we've done everything but score. We've lade siege to their goal really, and yeah these things can happen. We switched off for a split second and we've been punished. So yeah, disappointed with the goal we conceded and it was such a pivotal moment. It gave them something to hold onto."

"It frustrated us, of course,  but still, I believed in the second half there was enough in the game for us to come back. And again, the chances were there in that second half, but nothing would fall our way in order for us to score."

Newcastle controlled much of the game, and were left to rue chance after chance with Mark Verbruggen consistently stopping Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon's efforts.

When asked about what was lacking in goal from his attack, Howe highlighted how the Magpies desperately need to look at being more clinical with their finishing for the rest of this season.

"Well I think for all our ball around their box in that first half, clear openings weren't free flowing,  so we need to look at that. But there were chances there for us, so we need to look at obviously our clinical finishing in front of goal. We need to look and continue to work on our attacking stuff around the box, and we will. We always reflect on that and try to come back and improve.

"I thought it was a vast improvement overall in terms of performance from the start of the season, and I think we're gathering in terms of our overall level, it's just we're not totally clicking in every area. And of course to win games at this level, you need all guns firing."

After their second league defeat of the season, Newcastle will be hoping to bounce back from today's loss by travelling to Stamford Bridge and taking all three points against Chelsea, before meeting the Blues at St James' Park in the Carabao Cup just a few days later.