A REFLECTIVE Karl Darlow insists Newcastle United have to take the positives from Friday’s chaotic 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest, and has urged the club’s fans not to panic despite three setbacks in the space of a week.

Darlow saved two penalties in the space of 12 minutes, yet still finished up on the losing side as he returned to the City Ground, with the controversial first-half dismissals of Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett ultimately proving decisive as Newcastle slipped to a 2-1 defeat.

They remain at the top of the table, though, with Brighton having been unable to win at Cardiff on Saturday, and continue to boast a six-point gap to the play-off positions after third-placed Reading suffered a 5-0 thrashing at Fulham.

Darlow was understandably frustrated that Jamaal Lascelles’ 86th-minute own goal deprived Newcastle of what would have been a remarkable point on Friday night, but the former Forest goalkeeper claims it would be wrong to be too downbeat given the quality of the Magpies’ battling second-half display.

“It was a frustrating night for us,” said Darlow, who is now firmly established as Newcastle’s number one goalkeeper. “We started off well, looked in control and looked like we’d recovered well from Tuesday night.

“It was a positive start, but unfortunately we lost a man and that changed the dynamic of the game. Then to lose another one really did kill us off in the end.

“We’re all still frustrated. Obviously we went 1-0 up and everyone gathered together because we wanted to get a positive result, whether that be a point - and down to nine men that would have been a credible result.

“But I think we stay positive. We gave it our all - especially in the second half when it was tough and a lot of other teams might have crumbled a lot worse than we did.

“It took them until the 86th minute to break us down, so we’ve got to take the positives out of it. We all know you can’t lose two players in a Championship game and expect to get anything.

“To show the desire and determination with nine men going right to the death of the game is something positive to take. Unfortunately we lost, but the dressing room is different to last season - there is character in there.”

Darlow could hardly have done any more to try to engineer a positive result, with his two penalty saves coming in a remarkable 15-minute spell at the end of the first half that also contained the two dismissals, Newcastle’s goal and another effort from Ciaran Clark that was controversially disallowed for the slightest of tugs.

Darlow threw himself to his left to save from Nicklas Bendtner, then hurled himself to his right to deny Henri Lansbury, and three days after Newcastle had crashed out of the EFL Cup on penalties, with Matz Sels failing to save a single spot-kick against Hull, it was hard not to wonder what might have been had Darlow been in the side at the KCOM Stadium.

“It was just me doing my job really,” he said. “It was just one of those where I’ve guessed, and I’ve guessed right on both of them. Henri normally goes the other way, so we double-bluffed each other.

“Unfortunately we’ve lost the game, so it’s not a game I’m going to look back on and say, ‘Oh, I saved two penalties in the game’, because we lost.

“The result is the most important thing and we need to pick ourselves up and go again next Saturday.”

With no midweek game, the Magpies have a week on the training ground to allow the dust to settle ahead of Saturday’s home game with a Birmingham City side currently sitting in fifth.

Achraf Lazaar is likely to come in for Dummett, who will serve a one-match suspension, while Jack Colback should be fit enough to replace Shelvey, who will be sidelined for the three matches before his FA misconduct hearing into alleged abusive behaviour, which is due to take place in the week before Christmas.

“It’s definitely important not to panic,” said Darlow. “The run we went on has put us in a great position where we are. It’s been a tough week. We’ve had three games in the space of six days, so it was always going to be a hard week.

“We’re tired but we’ve got a free week now so we know we can really prepare towards getting a result next weekend now.”

Meanwhile, Ian Cathro is set to be appointed as the new manager of Hearts within the next 48 hours, having held talks with the Edinburgh club over the weekend.

Cathro, who was appointed as Newcastle’s first-team coach under Steve McClaren, was at the City Ground on Friday, having expressed a desire to help Rafael Benitez complete a hectic week despite the interest from Tynecastle.

He is expected to replace Robbie Neilson, who left Hearts last week to take over at MK Dons, as he takes his first step into management.