ROBERTO de Zerbi hailed Newcastle United's supporters and their "difference-makers" from the bench as the Brighton boss told of his delight at leaving St James' Park with a point.

Albion's Italian boss was blown away by the atmosphere on Tyneside in his first St James' Park visit last season and was equally as impressed this time around.

He was proud of his players for how they handled the atmosphere and "suffered" through a testing late spell after Eddie Howe had turned to his bench.

Joelinton, Miguel Almiron and Harvey Barnes were all introduced at the midway point of the second half, before Kieran Trippier marked his return from injury when he came on in stoppage time. The timing of the return of hugely important players couldn't be better for Howe, whose side head for Manchester United on Wednesday night knowing a win at Old Trafford and at Brentford on the final day will guarantee a sixth place finish and European football next season.

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As for Brighton, de Zerbi wants to finish a challenging season in the top 10, which he says would be an achievement to be celebrated for Albion. They led on Tyneside through Joel Veltman before Sean Longstaff's leveller in first half stoppage time.

"I'm really pleased with the performance," said the Brighton boss.

"We played against one of the best teams in terms of physical condition. We played in a fantastic atmosphere. This stadium is incredible, I've been twice and I don't know if the other games at home they have this atmosphere as well. The level of difficulty of this game was high. We played in our style.

"We suffered too much in the second half in the last 25 minutes but there is a reason. They changed four players - Trippier, Joelinton, Barnes and Almiron - they make a difference in every game.

"We changed young players so we suffered too much but we should be proud of the performance.

"We have two games at home and we'd like to finish in the top 10. It's the first time we've played in Europe this season, if you consider how many injuries we've had, finishing in the top 10 would be a great result and better than last season."