Caretaker Newcastle boss John Carver has bemoaned his side’s ill luck after what looked like a certain penalty was not awarded in his side’s 2-1 defeat at home to Saints.

While the hosts enjoyed some good fortune in the first half – when Florin Gardos’s clearance cannoned of striker Yoan Gouffran’s knee to cancel out Eljero Elia’s opening goal – Elia’s second goal and the decision of referee Robert Madley not to give a last-minute penalty when substitute Emmanuel Riviere’s shot appeared to hit Jose Fonte’s hand meant the Magpies slipped to their seventh defeat in nine games.

Carver said: “It’s a penalty, there’s no danger it’s a penalty.

“If the ball hits his (Fonte’s) hand and he’s in a natural position, then you say maybe ball to hand, but not when you have got an L-shape and it smacks it straight on the palm of your hand, it’s a penalty.

“That’s a stroke of luck or fortune.

“We had a little bit in the first half with the goal, but you need a stroke of luck and a bit of fortune like that because jobs are decided on decisions like that and unfortunately, we are the guys who suffer because of that, not the officials.”

The result does nothing for Carver’s claims to make his position in charge of the Magpies permanent, but he has urged the club to move quickly to appoint a successor to Alan Pardew, who left for Crystal Palace a fortnight ago.

Newcastle do not play again until they visit Hull on January 31 and the 50-year-old Carver is hoping for a resolution in that time.

Asked if he wanted an end to the uncertainty, he said: “I think I do, I think all the staff do, I think all the players do, I think the crowd certainly does and I am sure you guys do, so yes. I still love what I do, I still want to do it, there’s no danger of that. But sometimes, it’s out of your hands.

“I have had no conversations about it again since we last spoke on Thursday. I have been totally focussed on this game today.”