Hughton accepts Toon loss

28 October 2010 08:30
Newcastle manager Chris Hughton was understandably unhappy with the second goal his side conceded against Arsenal, but admitted his side had paid the price for being to naive. Nicklas Bendtner got away with a blatant foul as Theo Walcott netted the Gunners second of four at St James Park but, apart from that, the north-east club were second best. Hughton said: "What you can't afford to do is concede when we did in that first half, just before half-time, which enabled them to come out in that second half with a little bit of the ascendancy. "I have to say the second goal, I thought, was offside and most definitely if it wasn't we thought Mike Williamson was impeded. "Of course at 2-0, you have got to open up your game a little bit to give yourselves a chance to get back in, and what you can't afford to do is make fundamental mistakes. "Unfortunately we did and they had the quality to capitalise on them, but we showed a lot of spirit. It was a young side, it was a different side, but we certainly kept going to the end and had our own chances."

Source: PA