Claus Lundekvam gave away the penalty for Newcastle's crucial third goal after bringing bad boy Craig Bellamy down, but insisted: "He made the most of it."

Welsh international Bellamy, in the Newcastle attack despite being cautioned for common assault during the week, fell under a challenge from Lundekvam on the stroke of half-time.

Lundekvam protested to Kent referee Barry Knight before former Saint Alan Shearer stepped up to send Paul Jones the wrong way for his second of the afternoon.

But afterwards Lundekvam said: "It didn't take much for him to go down. I definitely touched him but only very slightly and he made the most of it.

"It was a bit harsh, coming when it did. It was frustrating because Bellamy had over run the ball, which went for a goal kick. He got between Paul Williams and Wayne Bridge and I went with him. I definitely touched him, but only very slightly.

"Their play had been quite nervous up until then and if we had gone in 2-1 down it would have given us a better chance.

"Being just one goal down would have helped but the referee gave the penalty and it was the deciding factor in the game.

"It's disappointing because we all felt that this was a winnable game. We got off to a decent start but lost because of the quality of their finishing from set plays."

Lundekvam, who was outjumped by Alan Shearer for Newcastle's second, added: "I'm taking my share of the blame, we weren't at our best today."

Gordon Strachan signed bad boy Bellamy from Norwich for £6.5m when he was at Coventry. He said: "I haven't got any arguments about the penalty. I thought Craig was excellent. He's a good kid and was never a problem for me but he was certainly a problem today."

Paul Jones, who had one of the best views of Bellamy's tumble, was not sure whether or not his Wales teammate dived.

"It happened so quickly that it's difficult to say either way," he said. "Claus has gone across after Alan Shearer has played the ball through but I'm not sure whether he clipped Craig or not.

"We'd just got back into it and we were a minute or so into added time so it was a bad time for them to score from our point of view."

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