Christian Atsu makes an admission following Newcastle’s vital win over Brighton

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Newcastle United moved themselves back to the top of the Championship with an impressive win over Brighton.

Newcastle United’s Christian Atsu and Brighton’s Jamie Murphy in action

Christian Atsu has confirmed that it was not his intention to play the ball to Mohamed Diame in the build up to Newcastle United’s equaliser during their important win over Brighton earlier this week, the Shields Gazette reports.

The Magpies moved themselves to the top of the Championship on Tuesday night, but it appeared for a long time that it would be the Seagulls extending their advantage at the top as they went into the final 10 minutes 1-0 ahead thanks to a first-half penalty from Glenn Murray.

However, the game turned on its head with Atsu at the heart of the momentum swing. While the winner was a fairly orthodox goal – with the winger darting down the line before squaring the ball to Ayoze Perez who found the back of the net – the equaliser came in extremely bizarre circumstances.

A partially cleared corner fell to the 25-year-old on the edge of the box but he seemed to mishit his volley towards Diame, who then somehow managed to loop the ball off his heel and into the top corner to the confusion of everyone, including the goalscorer it seems.

Newcastle United’s Mohamed Diame scores their first goal

And while some may like to believe that Atsu’s effort was intentionally meant for Diame, the wide-man confirmed that he cannot take the credit for the assist.

“It was a lucky assist,” he said, as reported by the Shields Gazette.

“I can’t really pretend that I meant to do that, but I will take the assist, and I am very happy for Mo that he scored.

“I meant the one for Ayoze, though!”

Although it was unintentional, the former Everton man will surely take a tremendous amount of confidence from his contribution as a whole.

Two assists in a game that could be pivotal in the race for automatic-promotion could be exactly the boost he needs to make a consistent impact in the coming months, potentially inspiring Rafa Benitez’s men back to the Premier League.