Brighton are a step closer to safety after a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United.

Albion's alarming winless run looked set to stretch to seven league games after Ayoze Perez's fifth goal in three matches gave the visitors a deserved first-half lead.

The Seagulls had not registered a top-flight goal since beating bitter rivals Crystal Palace on March 9 before midfielder Pascal Gross halted the lengthy drought at 631 minutes to ease their relegation fears.

Seagulls boss Chris Hughton said: “That performance probably sums up how we've been — a little bit fragile at both ends, not looking like scoring or creating too much, and a little bit vulnerable.

“But what I can say is the reaction from the team in the second half is what you want to see — a team that knew we were up against it and needed to get something from the game.

“We played a 4-4-2, which we haven't played too often, and we had to change that because it wasn't working as well as I would have liked — we weren't able to get the press on the ball.

“Newcastle are a good team in good form, and if you afford them too much space, they can hurt you. They hurt us with the goal and were far better than us in the first half.

“But it was a good second-half performance and they showed lots of spirit. When Glenn [Murray] had the opportunity towards the end, I thought we had done it."