A fabulous first half strike by Ayoze Perez was enough to earn Newcastle a point on Saturday - with an Albion equaliser coupled with Cardiff's loss to Fulham giving SJP old boy Chris Hughton some much-needed respite.

Clad in their red and blue change kit, United held the upper hand in the opening 45 minutes as the hosts were tentative and seldom looked like ending their marathon scoreless run.

They provided an early moment of comedy when a free-kick routine ended up with a short pass followed by a lay-off to no-one as a training ground move went badly awry.

The Magpies' goal came on 18 minutes when Paul Dummett's centre was headed back by Salomon Rondon for Perez to send a rising shot past Ryan for his fifth goal in three games.

However, the Spaniard was injured after being baulked on a run into the box which he aggravated while scoring. After attempting to play on, he hobbled off to be replaced by Kenedy, who seemed to be on a different planet to the rest of his team mates.

With Miguel Almiron's season over, Christian Atsu was included in the starting selection and the unwell Jamaal Lascelles made way for Federico Fernandez. 

Jonjo Shelvey meanwhile made a first start since November and took the captain's armband. Given plenty of time and space to pick his passes, he prompted and prodded from midfield without providing the killer ball.

The Seagulls inevitably showed more adventure in the second half and Shelvey had less time to orchestrate, while the absence of Perez and Almiron badly affected our balance up front.

After some sustained pressure Albion inevitably levelled on 75 minutes, when Bruno's cross from the right flank into the box was nodded on by Glenn Murray. As two defenders hesitated, Pascal Gross lunged forward to head in from five yards and end his side's 735 minute wait for a goal.

With the visitors on the back foot, Brighton went in search of a winner and came closest when Murray headed over Anthony Knockaert's cross from the right in the final seconds of normal time.

However, it ended all square, Newcastle remaining in 13th and moving on to 42 points - with games against Liverpool and Fulham still remaining - two less than their final tally last season.

This really was the proverbial game of two halves - it was almost as if the players had swapped shirts at half-time. We were as poor as Albion were before the break, while their second half showing matched ours in the first period.

Cardiff's defeat at Fulham earlier in the day changed the complexion of this contest. 

Had the Bluebirds won then Albion would have needed to be at it from the off and being content with a point allowed us to take the initiative. But having gained the upper hand, we didn't use Brighton's desperation after half-time to our advantage. We didn't need to go for the jugular, so we didn't and although our defending wasn't bad, we weren't fighting for our lives and it showed.

The point suited everyone, really and all fans leaving the ground seemed reasonably happy with what they'd seen but although a trip here next season now looks more certain, both clubs could well have rocky roads to negotiate before meeting again.

But in the short term, the result and the Sussex sunshine helped paper over the cracks.