EDDIE Howe and his coaching team will sit down and assess why Newcastle United's second half substitutions backfired in the defeat to Brighton on Saturday.

In general, Howe was pleased with United's display despite their defeat, with the hosts dominating the early exchanges before Danny Wellbeck scored what proved to be the winner against the run of play 10 minutes before half-time.

Newcastle had chances to level before and after the break but lost their way in the final quarter of the game, with Howe admitting he "didn't like" what he saw from his side in the last 20 minutes.

Howe turned to his bench 20 minutes into the second half, introducing Harvey Barnes and Joe Willock, with Miguel Almiron and Sean Longstaff called on 20 minutes later. Howe made his last chance in second half stoppage time when Will Osula replaced Lewis Hall.

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Howe said: "To be honest I don't think our substitutions helped our performance, I'll be the first to give you an honest opinion.

"Sometimes the opposite happens, you make changes and it elevates the team. Whenever I make changes I'm hoping for that.

"For whatever reason today it didn't. I didn't really like us in the last 20 minutes and we didn't chase the game particularly well. That's something we'll look at."

Several of Newcastle's players had been away during the international break but that sort of talk didn't interest Howe after his side's first home defeat since January.

He said: "You can never make excuses. Every team has the same problems during an international break, it's never easy because you're juggling lots of things at the same time.

"Our record after international breaks has been excellent and our performance was good. It's swings and roundabouts from early in the season when we weren't playing well but winning; now we are playing much better and the results aren't there.

"But if we keep doing the right things and performing well, the results will come."