43 mins Neave penalty. 1-0

45+2 mins Neave shot. 2-0

Half time: Newcastle 2 Brighton 0

47 mins Oriola shot. 2-1

59 mins Belmont shot. 2-2

Full time: Newcastle 2 Brighton 2

Robbie Stockdale said:

On the performance:

"From where we were maybe six or seven weeks ago to where we are now, I think there have been a lot of positives and steps forward with how we have been playing and the work we have done with them. That’s 21s football and it’s a constant revolving door of who is available to play.

"Obviously, after the January window your team looks completely different to what started the season. We put demands on the players, we put demands on them.

"The 21s is a bridging gap to the senior team, hopefully ours, if not then somebody else’s. I’ve got vast experiences of what that looks like, the physicality and the mentality the players have to show. So I think we are getting there. There were some really good performances tonight.”

On Sean Neave:

"I think it would be good for him to have two or three roles because as a young players it’s opportunities to play. At senior level, as a number nine, it’s not easy for a young forward, so maybe playing off the side or off a number nine would be great for him.

"With us, we played him down the middle today, we played him as a ten, and he’s effective at our level in either. I don’t think you need to pigeon hole him in an actual position, I think he would much prefer to do two or three that give him more opportunity to play in the first team.”

Newcastle's U21 side went in search of a third PL2 victory in four games on Friday evening, when Brighton and Hove Albion provided the opposition at Whitley Park.

And they looked all set for the win, going in at the break two goals up and with a man extra. However the ten man Seagulls fought back to deservedly pinch a point.

The home side took the lead just before half-time when Sean Neave fired in from the spot after he had been tugged back in the box by defender Charlie Penman who was shown a straight red card.

Four minutes later Neave got his second, finishing at the near post after Kyle Fitzgerald crossed low from the right.

The ten-man visitors pulled a goal back two minutes after he break through Nehemiah Oriola and then levelled just before the hour when Joe Belmont netted from close range following a corner.

Neave twice came close to grabbing a hat-trick in the 83rd minute; seeing one effort blocked on the line amid loud appeals for a handball and sending his next shot high over the bar from the edge of the six yard box seconds later.

Biffa