MATT RITCHIE has confirmed he would have taken Newcastle United’s stoppage-time penalty at Cardiff City had he been on the field, but the winger feels it would be wrong to criticise Kenedy for the miss that deprived the Magpies of two points.

Kenedy rounded off a dreadful performance by rolling a tame spot-kick at Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge to ensure Saturday’s game finished goalless after Sean Morrison was penalised for handling Yoshinori Muto’s cross.

LATEST: Kenedy set to avoid punishment for Cardiff kick

The Brazilian could find himself suffering another setback later today, with the Football Association expected to launch disciplinary proceedings after referee Craig Pawson failed to issue any punishment despite Kenedy kicking Cardiff midfielder Victor Camarasa in the first half of Saturday’s game.

With Isaac Hayden set to be suspended for three matches following his dismissal for a foul on Josh Murphy, Kenedy could also be hit with a three-game ban for violent conduct, but Ritchie has defended the 22-year-old in the wake of his weekend display.

The Scotsman, who is Newcastle’s regular first-choice penalty taker, was sitting on the bench when Kenedy stepped up in stoppage time, having been substituted as part of the reshuffle that followed Hayden’s dismissal.

“If I’d been on the pitch, I would have been taking it, but that’s how it goes,” said Ritchie, whose goal in the 4-1 win over Preston at the end of the promotion season remains Newcastle’s last success from the penalty spot.

“I was obviously on a booking and I had to play right-back, so the manager was probably hoping I didn’t get sent off.

“He made the decision to take me off, which I understand. It was frustrating to see the penalty saved, but sometimes that’s just the way things go. You can’t score all of them and no one’s to blame.”

Newcastle claimed their first point of the season courtesy of a goalless draw, and while they rarely carried much of an attacking threat, they defended impressively against predictably physical opposition.

Their next three Premier League matches pit them against Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal either side of the international break, so Ritchie admits it was important to take something from the trip to South Wales to get the season up and running.

“It wasn’t a fantastic performance, but we managed to stay in the game and hang in at 0-0, and then we got a chance at the end but it wasn’t to be,” he said. “I was sitting on the bench with five minutes to go thinking, ‘You know what, it’s the Premier League, maybe a point away from home isn’t so bad’.

“A point away from home is not to be sniffed at, especially with the circumstances the way they were. It was the first home game for Cardiff, so it was always going to be a difficult tie. We’re obviously not delighted because of the way the game ended, but we got a point and it could have been worse. The positive is that we take the point, and we’ll try to build on it.

“We’ve got a good solid base, as we had last season. Now, we just have to keep trying to improve and get better week by week. The new players will learn the system and how we want to play, and we’re only going to get better.”