Rafa said:

 
"It is very disappointing, we didn't do what we had to today, we made too many mistakes. We gave them chances at the beginning but even with the mistakes, we could have scored a late goal and gone into the dressing room 1-0 up.

"After we started the second half much better we had chances and were on top of them, then we gave a silly foul and gave a goal away from it. We didn't manage the situation the way we have to. We had some chances at the end and their keeper was making saves.

"Yes, he (Mitrovic) did (make an impact), but I didn’t like the way that we played because it was without control. We were playing with our hearts and not our brains, and, when you do that, you don’t know what can happen.

"He’s the player (Shelvey) that shoots from outside the box, to try and create some chances, but I’m not very happy with how the players managed the game. 

"We have to have some more experience and then manage it in a different way. You cannot waste time when you need time, when you need to play quick you can play quick, when you need to calm down you can calm down. I think that we didn’t do well. 

"You must analyse the two or three things that you can improve. You can do nothing about the things you cannot improve, but what you can improve you must, and as soon as possible. 

"As soon as possible will be the training session on Monday - we must prepare in the training sessions to do good things and make sure we do these things in the games too.

"We have to wake up and be ready for the next game. We have five games to play and we are in a good position." 

Owls boss Carlos Carvalhal said:

"We were near our best and very, very good against the best side in the competition. We ran and fought for every ball and made it very difficult for Newcastle to play their football.

"We had chances from very early in the game but I had every confidence we would score.

"I am pleased for all the players because sometimes you do not get what you deserve in football – today we did.

"We are Sheffield Wednesday, and this is what I mean by it. We went face-to-face with Newcastle who are very strong. I hope this kind of environment is repeated.

"It was a very nice game, we played against the best team in the competition. We won and we deserved to win. We created three or four clear chances to score in the first half.

"Everybody will agree with me that we were the best team on the pitch and we deserved to win the game. We were very positive in the game, we moved the ball well. 

"Even when we are missing chances we have expectations that we will score goals. We played some very good football.

"All I care about is Sheffield Wednesday because if we win our games we will finish in the play-offs, this is the fact. We can only care about ourselves right now because everything is in our hands.

"Of course, we look at the results but what matters to me is the position of Sheffield Wednesday. The competition is reaching the end and we must make sure we are there at the finish line.”
 

Newcastle's latest attempt at playing catch-up with leaders Brighton and Hove Albion came a cropper in the Hillsborough sunshine on Saturday evening.  

Glenn Loovens nodded in the only goal of the game to the dismay of the Gallowgate crowd back in December and second half headers from Tom Lees and Steven Fletcher here tonight saw the Owls complete a seasonal win double over the Magpies.

United did belatedly get on the scoresheet after 88 minutes when substitute Aleksandar Mitrovic's shot was blocked and Jonjo Shelvey netted the rebound. However a late free kick from Shelvey in a dangerous position was wastefully driven into the wall, ending faint hopes of an undeserved point.

Making just a single change to the starting lineup that had beaten Burton Albion at home in midweek, Yoan Gouffran returned in place of Christian Atsu - while Chancel Mbemba retained his place in central defence and Mo Diame again featured in a holding midfield role.

Newcastle began the game with a measure of composure, but had an early let-off when Gary Hooper rattled Karl Darlow's crossbar in the second minute. The visitors survived another gilt-edged chance on 16 minutes when ex-mackem Fletcher corkscrewed a shot wide from inside the box and Darlow did well to deny Hooper after the Celtic old boy wriggled past Mbemba on the byline.

Matt Ritchie had taken a knock in the warm up from a team mate and was left writhing on the ground after a reckless challenge by Barry Bannon earned the Villa man a fortunate yellow from referee Stuart Attwell - other whistlers would have shown red.  

Having shown little in front of goal in the opening 45 minutes, United almost went in ahead thanks to the brilliance of Shelvey, who saw Keiren Westwood off his line and shot from inside his own half - striking the crossbar and leaving the 'keeper in the net. 

Newcastle's best period came in the opening part of the second half as they kicked towards their own fans, whose noise levels steadily increased as Shelvey twice forced Westwood into stops.

However the Owls made the breakthrough immediately after that, Lees heading in a free kick. And within ten minutes the game had slipped through our hands as Fletcher got to a throw-in ahead of Jamaal Lascelles and headed beyond Darlow - Ciaran Clark's absence again costly at set pieces.

With one eye on our goal difference compared to Brighton's, Jordan Rhodes thankfully failed to get his first-time effort on target in the 80th minute. And although Shelvey halved the arrears in the closing minutes, his wasted free kick and a goalbound header from Lascelles were all we could muster, as the Owls held out to boost their own playoff hopes.

Quite simply, not enough players were on their game here: Ritchie ineffective after his two misadventures, Perez frustratingly wasteful and Mbemba often looking uncomfortable as the back four struggled to cope with Wednesday's high balls into the box throughout the game.

Shelvey was the pick of our bunch, playing more of a box-to-box role rather than his usual deep-lying quarter back role. And while the manager may have reservations about fielding twin strikers, the pairing of Murphy and Mitrovic again proved to be instantly successful - the ball was in the net at Birmingham in January within five minutes, today it took barely three minutes.

To round off a dispiriting day for Rafa Benitez, Dwight Gayle was forced off in the first half with a hamstring problem affecting his other leg rather than the one that has sidelined him recently.

Having benefited from a settled side for much of the season - with the changes in personnel made being voluntary (and allowing for a policy of leaving the defence alone) - we've steadily seen our options reduce since the January transfer window close. 

Aside from the vulnerability we show when Clark doesn't play, The absence of DeAndre Yedlin has certainly reduced our attacking range and pace. In midfield meanwhile, continued concerns over Isaac Hayden's fitness saw Diame return. We'd recorded that he'd been OK there against Burton in midweek but our fears about him in a more testing environment such that this were sadly realised. To a lack of passing and tackling prowess, a dislike of heading the ball can now also be added. 

Huddersfield Town's 0-2 defeat at Nottingham Forest at least preserved the ten point margin between ourselves and the third-placed Terriers. And while that may bring automatic promotion a step closer for Newcastle with five games remaining, our latest result strengthens the possibility that it could be as runners-up to Chris Hughton's side.

The vagaries of the Sky-influenced fixture list mean that victory for Brighton at Wolves on Friday teatime would leave us five points behind before facing Leeds United immediately afterwards. And were Preston to beat Huddersfield earlier that day, a Seagulls win would confirm their promotion. 

More positively, our defeating Leeds combined with Huddersfield failing to win would put Rafa's side 12 or 13 points ahead of a Terriers side with just 15 points to play for. Promotion is still in our hands and a colossal effort on and off the field on Friday and Monday could still result in an Easter rising.

Biffa