Veteran striker Welbeck scored decisive goals in Premier League and FA Cup wins at St James' Park last season, and he was the difference again as Brighton climbed into the top half of the table.

The home side had opportunities to add to Welbeck's 41st-minute opener, where he dinked a finish over Nick Pope after being played through by Goerginio Rutter, but Yasin Ayari and Maxim De Cuyper could not find the net.

A brilliant Nick Woltemade backheel brought Newcastle level with 14 minutes to play, and the visitors looked the more likely victors at that stage, with Bruno Guimaraes seeing a close-range effort deflected over the bar.

But eight minutes later, Welbeck curled a fine finish beyond the reach of Pope to claim all three points after seizing on a loose ball on the edge of the box.

The result took Brighton up to ninth, above Newcastle, which fell to 12th as its wait for a first away win of the season continues.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe described his side's performance as hard to watch.

"We are disappointed with the first-half performance, really," Howe said. "We faded, and the last half an hour was hard to watch.

"Brighton scored in that period. We were pleased to get in at 1-0 and regroup."

Woltemade felt his team lacked the energy required to do better.

"In the first half, we didn't do good," Woltemade said. "The second half was good energy in the game. We scored one goal, and it felt like we would win.

"But they played good and scored. That's football sometimes. The second half was way better than the first."

Despite Newcastle's improvement, Brighton boss Fabian Herzeler, who credited Woltemade for "an unbelievable goal", was confident in his own side's ability to secure a result before Welbeck delivered.

"I never thought we would lose it, so I have the biggest belief in my team," he said. "We showed resilience, character and personality."