RAFAEL BENITEZ was keen to reflect on Matt Ritchie’s stunning winner that lifted Newcastle United back to the top of the Championship after receiving an apology from referee Keith Stroud following the victory over Burton Albion.

The Professional Games Match Officials Ltd was quick to issue a statement following a night of controversy at St James’ Park that could have been costly in the Magpies’ pursuit of the title and Premier League football.

Stroud wrongly awarded an indirect free-kick to Burton when Dwight Gayle encroached into the penalty area as Ritchie converted his penalty kick just after the half hour mark; he should have asked for the kick to be retaken.

Despite discussions with his assistant Matthew McGrath he upheld the decision, despite uproar in the stands and from players and coaching staff because it was unclear why he had ruled out the goal.

It became clearer after the game, though, when the PGMOL statement read: “In this evening’s EFL Championship game between Newcastle United and Burton Albion, referee Keith Stroud awarded Newcastle a penalty in the 29th minute.

“As Matt Ritchie took the kick, Dwight Gayle encroached into the penalty area. An indirect free kick was awarded to Burton, but the Laws of the Game state that that the penalty kick should have been retaken.

“Unfortunately the referee has misapplied the Law. Keith and his team are understandably upset at the lapse in concentration and apologise for the mistake.”

Stroud also apologised to Benitez, who was furious at the time of the incident, after the match had finished. The outcome of the game, courtesy of Ritchie’s 69th minute strike, was what concerned the Newcastle boss.

He said: “You have seen the incident, you have a lot of experts to analyse, I was talking to the referee. I will not keep talking about that.

“For me it was an important game, a fantastic goal from Matt Ritchie, a great goal. There was workrate, a lot of positives, unfortunately we talk about the incident but it is clear for everyone.

“The referee and me have been talking. We need to move forward. We can’t change what happened. We got three points. We have to be ready to be stronger for the next one. After the incident we were losing our focus. We won. I prefer to talk about the best goal.”

Benitez has always be wary of introducing video technology into football, and he hasn’t changed his stance. He said: “Technology? Goaline is fine, the others will take time to analyse what is the best.

“Football is the game, you can carry on making mistakes, if you stop the game all the time there is a problem. Maybe it can help but we have to be careful for what decisions.”

Newcastle are now ten points ahead of third placed Huddersfield after winning their back to back home dates with Wigan and Brighton.

With only six matches remaining in the race to the Premier League, though, Benitez is still not banking on promotion ahead of Saturday’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday.

“We knew that this Burton team was difficult to break down and beat with a line of five at the back,” he said. “We needed to make sure there was no mistake. We did it until the end and we couldn’t be relaxed.

“We have a mini-league, we have won two already, and if we can carry on winning games it will be easier. It is important to enjoy this today, to spend a couple of days preparing and then be ready for the next one.”