Five defeats in a row had thrust Newcastle boss Eddie Howe into the firing line, and a nervy start at St James’ Park did little to help his cause.
Brighton ought to have taken an early lead through Jack Hinshelwood, who latched onto Kaoru Mitoma’s teasing delivery but could only fire straight at a grateful Nick Pope.
Murmurings of discontent within the ground were growing, and they very nearly grew exponentially when Carlos Baleba crashed an effort against the top of the crossbar inside the opening 10 minutes, as even at such an early stage, the Newcastle goal was living a charmed life.
Despite being on the back foot so much, it was actually the Toon who took the lead through William Osula – and not without a comedic element either.
Brighton stopper Bart Verbruggen flew out of his goal, but slipped, and thus allowed Jacob Murphy to cross onto the head of Osula, who had the simplest of tasks to head into an empty net.
And another header would see the Magpies double their lead soon after, as although Verbruggen was in his goal this time, he was still powerless to prevent Dan Burn’s bullet header via a Bruno Guimaraes corner from nestling into the back of his net.
Brighton were lucky not to go into the break three goals behind, when Verbruggen heroically blocked Malick Thiaw’s effort from close range, and that almost proved the catalyst for them to halve the deficit after the break.
Hinshelwood was again instrumental, shaking off his marker to head over at the near post as another huge chance came and went for the European-chasing Seagulls.
Third time proved to be a charm for Hinshelwood, who finally got his elusive goal just after the hour mark when Danny Welbeck’s deft lay-off allowed him to slam a left-footed effort into the roof of the net.
The atmosphere changed inside St James’ Park after that goal, and with Brighton pushing for a leveller, they were left scratching their heads as to how it didn’t come when Pascal Gross’s teasing delivery somehow evaded both Welbeck and Jan Paul van Hecke.
The South Coast side continued to probe for a late leveller, but were unable to find a way through a dogged Newcastle rearguard, though, with Howe’s men holding out to secure just a second win in their last seven home league matches, and even adding gloss to the result in injury time, when Harvey Barnes notched a third when latching onto the ball and firing into the roof of the net.
Flashscore Man of the Match: William Osula (Newcastle United)
