RAFAEL BENITEZ was left frustrated and wondering why when Crystal Palace ended the January transfer window by preventing Andros Townsend from re-joining Newcastle United.

Benitez, whose side face Queens Park Rangers at St James’ Park on Wednesday night, had tried to remain optimistic throughout deadline day that managing director Lee Charnley could persuade Palace to do business.

But the Eagles dug their heels in and Sam Allardyce, the former Sunderland and Newcastle boss, won the mind games by showing his determination not to accept the offer from St James’ Park.

Despite Benitez’s hopes that a permanent deal could be secured to take Townsend back to Tyneside, Newcastle are understood to have only wanted to do business if it was a loan deal with an obligation to buy.

However, Newcastle were not prepared to pay the £2m loan fee on top of the £13m transfer fee that would have had to be paid if promotion to the Premier League was achieved in May.

Despite Benitez claiming at lunch-time that he was ‘confident’ a deal could still be agreed for the 25-year-old, the writing was on the wall when Townsend was included on the Palace bench at Bournemouth.

He then emerged from the bench at the Vitality Stadium to set up Christian Benteke to score the second goal that sealed three valuable points in Palace’s battle to stay in the Premier League.

It means Benitez has to head into the rest of the season with the squad he already has, despite outlining at the beginning of the month that he had wanted a new midfielder and a winger to the boardroom.

Newcastle also failed to persuade Everton to do business for James McCarthy, while a deal for Swansea's Madou Barrow didn't crop up again either.

In fact, rather than add to the squad, Newcastle are closer to losing a player. Midfielder Cheik Tiote has edged nearer to teaming up again with Papiss Cisse at Shandong Luneng Taishan and the Chinese transfer window is still open. Goalkeeper Tim Krul, who had been on loan at Ajax, has moved to AZ Alkmaar.

While the battle to sign Townsend rumbled on, Benitez was keen to stress he did not think the frustrations of this transfer window would mean there would be an automatic repeat in the summer.

Benitez, who denied any knowledge of the club making an £8m offer for Angers’ striker Nicolas Pepe, would have preferred deals to have taken place earlier in the window having identified targets on January 1.

There have been suggestions that the delay was because of a shift in policy, with owner Mike Ashley keen to have a greater say on deals again and that he was ready to give chief scout Graham Carr a bigger say on targets again. Benitez, however, has always maintained he has the final say, as the manager.

Benitez, earlier in the day, said: “Because I am quite old now, I have experience with clubs and transfer windows and all these things.

"What I have very clear in my mind is that you have to concentrate on one game at a time. That means that we have to concentrate on this window, and after we will analyse what we did, right or wrong, and then we will think about the future. I cannot be talking 'if', because it makes no sense until the window is over.

"We have to wait, see what happens, at the end of the window we must see if we are strong enough to stay there and go up. And after that we will see what we can do in the summer.

"It's a question of sitting down, for us to keep working hard and making the right decisions at the right time."

Newcastle are looking to reclaim top spot in the promotion race tonight when Queens Park Rangers head to St James’ Park. There are no fresh injuries to report either, and Brighton hold a two point cushion at the pinnacle of the second tier.

Newcastle, aiming to bounce back from Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Oxford, smashed QPR for six at Loftus Road earlier in the season.

Benitez, who suggested Mohamed Diame is fit after returning from international duty, said: "To beat Norwich in the last minute was massive, we have had some good games both home and away, not just that one against QPR.

"But because we controlled that game so much and had so much control, we scored six goals and we did not concede so we have to put that in there.

"I think it will be a different game this time because they have changed manager, tactics and we will play at home. It's very different, the way that they are playing now it is quite tough.”