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• Eddie Howe ‘hugely frustrated’ as Newcastle denied win by controversial penalty

  Eddie Howe was left fuming after Paris St Germain denied Newcastle a priceless Champions League victory with a controversial stoppage-time penalty.

  The Magpies were heading for a famous 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes until Polish referee Szymon Marciniak awarded a spot-kick against Tino Livramento after a VAR review, allowing Kylian Mbappe to level in the eighth and final minute of added time.

  Howe, who said in a television interview that the official had been placed under “extreme” pressure by the PSG players, labelled a decision which cost his side two precious points “poor” in his post-match press conference.

  Asked if he felt a sense of injustice, the Newcastle boss said: “Yes, I do. It wasn’t the right decision in my opinion.

  “There are so many things to take into account at that moment, the speed first. It was a ricochet that when it is slowed down, looks completely different to the live event.

  “The ball hits his chest first, comes up and hits his hand. But his hand is not in an unnatural position, they [his hands] are down by his side, but he is in a running motion.

  “I feel it is a poor decision and it’s hugely frustrating for us as you know how little time there is left in the game. There is nothing we can do about it now.”

  The pivotal moment arrived in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Ousmane Dembele attempted to deliver the ball across the Newcastle penalty area and saw it hit Livramento’s side and rear up on to the underside of his arm.

  Mr Marciniak, who had earlier seen decisions not to award spot-kicks for an Anthony Gordon challenge on Achraf Hakimi and a shout for handball against teenager midfielder Lewis Miley upheld, was advised to review the incident and this time decided to award the penalty.

  The Magpies, who had taken a 24th-minute lead through Alexander Isak, defended it for grim life until the last-gasp controversy, although they needed Pope to be at his brilliant best on several occasions.

  They now need to beat AC Milan at home on December 13 and hope PSG do not win away to Borussia Dortmund to progress.

  Asked if that was something to cling on to, Howe, who celebrates his 46th birthday on Wednesday, said: “Yes, I think that’s absolutely right. In the next couple of days, that will become more relevant in our thoughts, I think.

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  “When the draw came out, it was the ‘group of death’ and I don’t think many people gave us a chance of qualifying from it and sitting here now, I’m a little bit frustrated that it’s not in our hands because when I look back at the two Dortmund games, I felt we could have done better in those matches.

  “I don’t think it’s the time for that, I think it’s probably a time to be positive and to say that if we can beat Milan, then good things can happen from it.”

  For PSG boss Luis Enrique, there was a mixture of relief and frustration on a night when his side created a host of chances but were unable to take any of them until Mbappe’s late intervention.

  Enrique said: “Without a doubt, we played a very great game. We deserved to win. We played better than Newcastle. The result does not reflect what happened on the pitch.

  “It’s not basketball. We are one of the teams in Europe that scores the most. Sometimes the ball doesn’t want to go in.

  “Sometimes the game looked like table tennis. I couldn’t believe we couldn’t score, but we carried on despite the frustration.”

• Barrow’s climb is a victory for hard work, says boss Pete Wild

  Pete Wild believes his side’s hard work is paying off after Barrow moved into the Sky Bet League Two promotion places with a comfortable 2-0 win over Walsall at Holker Street.

  Goals from Ben Whitfield and Niall Canavan secured all three points as the Bluebirds extended their record unbeaten league run to 10 games.

  Whitfield put the home side ahead after 11 minutes, controlling Canavan’s long range pass before placing the ball perfectly into the far corner from the edge of the area.

  The Bluebirds got the second they deserved with 19 minutes remaining when skipper Canavan pounced to force the ball home from close range for his second of the season, after George Ray’s initial effort was blocked.

  Barrow have now registered five consecutive league wins for the first time since the 1967-68 season and moved up to third in the table.

  Wild said: “Winning games breeds confidence and the more you win the more confident you get.

  “I’m really pleased for the players and staff and everyone is really working hard this season and that’s paying off in terms of results.

  “Good seasons are built on good runs and consistency, so the longer we can keep this run going the better for everyone at the club.”

  “I thought it was a really solid front footed performance tonight. They say this is a tough place to come and I wanted it to be just that tonight.

  “The way we started the game and the energy we played with was really pleasing and we got our first goal from being positive and getting at Walsall from the start of the game.

  “I thought the way Walsall would play would give us space between the lines so I thought it would be an interesting one for Ben Whitfield to start and it paid off for us.”

  Walsall are now six matches without a win and manager Mat Sadler said: “It was a tough watch for anyone who was at the game.

  “We went into the game knowing how poor the pitch was and we highlighted how poor the pitch was and it suited the way they play as they play here every week, how they get goals, how they create chances.

  “They get it in the areas and create chances from the wide areas which is what they did and we didn’t do that nearly enough for the ability we’ve got in our team.

  “So we’re extremely disappointed to let them get their noses in front on a turgid pitch and we didn’t get anything near good enough going for the standards we set ourselves.

  “We dropped well below the standards that we set ourselves tonight but we will put it right.”

• I just want the lads to understand me better – Grant McCann after Doncaster win

  Grant McCann will focus on ensuring his messages are getting through to his Doncaster players loud and clear after being left frustrated with aspects of their performance in the win over Colchester.

  A Tom Smith own goal and efforts from Mo Faal and Joe Ironside saw Rovers to a 3-1 triumph.

  While pleased with the result, McCann felt his side did not heed his instructions to push for more goals after each occasion when they found the net.

  “We got the first goal and then we just sat back a bit again,” he said. “It’s something we need to get to the bottom of.

  “I spoke to the group and said if it’s something I’ve said, I’d hold my hands up but doing that is not something that’s coming out of my mouth.

  “After the first goal, we let Colchester come on to us for a five minute spell and Joe Taylor nearly scored before he actually got the equaliser.

  “We made it hard for ourselves but I said to the lads at half-time that if we score the next one, we have to keep going and get more. You have to keep the foot down but we sat off again and Colchester had chances.

  “It’s not too much of a dig at the lads because on the whole I thought we were good and it’s a good response to losing in the last minute at Crewe.

  “But I just want the lads to understand me better. They have to push themselves up the pitch because we speak about it all the time – scoring and scoring again.”

  Joe Taylor netted an equaliser for Colchester before the break but the visitors offered little in the way of real threat in the second half.

  Head coach Matt Etherington was bitterly disappointed with United’s performance.

  He said: “It wasn’t good enough in the second half and it was probably the worst 45 minutes of football since I’ve come into the role.

  “It’s really disappointing. The players kept going until the end and had a couple of chances but we didn’t deserve to win it with that second-half performance.

  “Two set-pieces again – players not picking their man up from the second phase. Ultimately those two set-pieces have cost us the game.

  “You’re always facing an uphill battle when you’re conceding goals from set-pieces on a regular basis so it’s something that we’re addressing. It’s obviously still not getting addressed properly because we’re conceding goals and we’ll have to have a word about that and a look at the set-up.

  “The set-up hasn’t changed throughout the season and it was good early on. Teams will notice that we’re susceptible to set-pieces and we need to do something about it.”