Tuesday 3 January 2017 08:31, UK
Rafael Benitez admitted Newcastle's 1-0 defeat at Blackburn was "difficult to understand" after his side dominated from start to finish.
Newcastle surrendered their place on top of the Championship after finishing the match at Ewood Park having mustered 25 shots at goal without scoring, allowing the hosts to snatch three vital points through Charlie Mulgrew.
Benitez looked exasperated as he tried to explain how Newcastle had been beaten by Blackburn for the second time this season, but insisted there were still positives to take out of it.
"It is difficult to understand when you have so many chances and so much control of the game that you don't even draw, but lose the game 1-0," Benitez told Sky Sports. "It is incredible, but that is football and you have to get on with it.
"At the end of the day, we did enough to win the game. The only positive is that we played against a good team, who worked very hard.
"They put a lot of bodies in the box and it's not easy to find space, but it's difficult to explain. How can you not even draw, and lose this game? It's incredible.
"For me, to see the team playing so well and not winning the game is difficult to understand but we have to carry on trying to play in the same way, trying to create as many chances as today and trying to take our chances.
"The only thing we didn't do is to score when we had a lot of chances, especially in the first half.
"If we continue playing like this, we will win games."
Newcastle did have the ball in the net twice in the second half, but the referee disallowed both, firstly for offside as Dwight Gayle headed home, before Ciaran Clark handled in the box as he bundled the ball home.
Benitez was not looking for excuses, however, believing his side had no complaints with the officials.
"I couldn't see properly, but it looked like the right decision," Benitez added. "We would not have complained."
