NEWCASTLE United stand-in skipper Jonjo Shelvey credited Blackburn Rovers with sticking to their game-plan in the win at St James' Park, but criticised their style of play.

Shelvey, who took the armband from Jamaal Lascelles who was rested, said he couldn’t make any excuses for the defeat, which ended a run of nine consecutive wins for the Magpies, though he didn’t seem too impressed by the performance of referee David Coote, nor Rovers’ approach.

Rovers restricted the hosts to just a handful of chances, and grabbed all three points through Charlie Mulgrew's goal 15 minutes from time.

“We probably had more of the ball and the chances, but we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” the midfielder told NUFC TV.

“You switch off from a set-piece, it’s not the most fluid of games and there was a bit of time wasting on their part. I think the ref wasn’t that great to be honest.

“We can’t make excuses, we didn’t perform. We know we can and have done in recent weeks but we had enough chances to warrant a win.

“The way they play isn’t the way football should be played. They come here and were hitting balls up to the two front men.

“That’s their game plan and you give credit where it’s due because it worked in the end.

“Fair play to Blackburn because they stuck to their game plan and they knew what they were doing throughout.”

Newcastle saw their lead at the top of the Championship cut to two points by Brighton, but will look to get back to winning ways in their EFL Cup semi-final clash with Hull City tomorrow.

Shelvey added: “We are going to lose games this season, you won’t go the whole season unbeaten.

“It doesn’t happen in today’s football and you are going to pick up the odd loss and odd draw.

“It’s how you bounce back and we’ll be back in training for a massive game against Hull."