RAFAEL BENITEZ insists that there is no point dwelling on the poor refereeing decisions of eight days ago.

The Magpies boss remains disappointed with the circumstances surrounding the defeat at Nottingham Forest, where Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett were both red carded for incidents involving Henri Lansbury.

Newcastle, despite taking the lead, were unable to prevent a defeat with nine men and that allowed Brighton to close the gap at the top of the Championship. Last night they ...

Since then an FA independent regulatory panel overturned the red cards dished out by referee Stephen Martin, but the result still stands in the race for promotion to the Premier League.

But Benitez said: “I have some experience in England and you can’t change things so carry on and tell the players that because this thing can happen you have to stick together and don’t waste time blaming each other when we have a defeat. It’s just concentrating on getting the best from every player and the fans to ensure that we win every game.

“We have seen it was difficult and I have said it’s not easy for referees to make decisions but at least after they realised that something was wrong, so next time hopefully something will be different. But you cannot change what happened at Forest.”

Newcastle’s players did not hide their anger in the dressing room and when they got back together on the training ground this week, so Benitez has urged them to channel their frustrations in the right way against Birmingham today.

He said: “That would be perfect – no? – to have the players reacting really well but in football you cannot guarantee anything. Talking with them I could see that they want to bounce back.

“It’s different on the Monday and every day they are more focused on the game and they forget about other things but it’s important they realise every game is important. To lose in the way that they lost, it’s important to react quickly.

“The difference is we have had a week (between games) so you try to manage all the little things you cannot do in the (previous) week – you have to manage tactics, you have to prepare set pieces, you have more time for them.

“In terms of the training sessions, the coaching is easier when you have a week and if you lose you have more things you can work on to try and improve.

“If you win you can do it but sometimes the players think, ‘We are winning so there’s no need to change this or that.’ We try to push, push, push but sometimes it’s more difficult. But when you lose everybody says, ‘It’s true.’”

Shelvey, who also has a disciplinary hearing to come later this month after being charged with using racially aggravated language against Wolves in September, is expected to retain his place in midfield after having his red card rescinded.

Benitez said: “I didn’t have to say anything to him because he was apologising to everyone because he knew he made a mistake. If he wants to grow, and I think he does, he has to keep doing the same thing he has been during the season.

“He has been one of the best players in the team because he came back from the summer really focused, he was concentrating, training really well and listening to everyone. Then this thing that happened the other day proved that he has to stay focused and do his job like he was before.

“I’m confident he can do that. When I talk to him or see him playing I realise there’s a very good player who has to have this control. It’s a question of time. He has to be more mature in his reaction but I think he has to learn.

“When you talk with him and you see his positive reaction, and we’ve talked about (Aleksandar) Mitrovic in the past, it’s a question of each one. Normally with him he’s fine in 99 per cent of the situations and you have one per cent where he loses control. Hopefully he can control even this one per cent.”

Newcastle will be without Ayoze Perez today because of illness, while Jack Colback is missing because of a problem with his vision.