Newcastle United have moved two points clear at the top of the Championship table with a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

Brighton appeared to be on course to go four points ahead of their title rivals after Glenn Murray's early penalty, before Mohamed Diame's fluke and Ayoze Perez's late goal saw the Magpies complete the turnaround.

Brighton started brightly in front of a capacity crowd and they almost went ahead when Bruno's 20-yard volley was superbly punched away by Karl Darlow in the Newcastle goal.

However, the home side did not have to wait long to open the scoring after they were awarded a penalty when Ciaran Clark was adjudged to have hauled down Murray from a corner, and the striker got back to his feet to send Darlow the wrong way.

That goal came after Sam Baldock nearly finished off a clever free-kick routine with a volley from close range, but it was Brighton's final effort from open play for some time as Newcastle gradually eased their way back into the match.

Matt Ritchie clipped the top of David Stockdale's bar with an over-hit cross, while Yoan Gouffran forced the goalkeeper into a solid save with a low shot from distance.

Towards the end of the first half, Brighton improved with Murray seeing a fine volley saved by Darlow, but Newcastle could have equalised on two occasions in added-on time.

Moments after Ritchie had seen a cross-shot well dealt with by Stockdale, the Brighton goalkeeper was in the right place at the right time to stop Christian Atsu scoring from 14 yards.

Brighton ended the first half on the back foot, but they were straight onto the offensive after the restart as Lewis Dunk saw a header cleared off the line after he had beaten Darlow in the air.

Moments later, Anthony Knockaert switched the ball onto his left foot inside the penalty area before forcing a solid save out of Darlow from around 14 yards out.

However, Stockdale almost gifted Newcastle an equaliser shortly before the hour mark when he passed the ball straight to Gouffran, who was standing 10 yards away, but the Frenchman fired his resulting shot straight back at the goalkeeper.

Jonjo Shelvey then saw a free kick easily saved by Stockdale but while Brighton got back on the front foot, they were not creating any opportunities and the visitors rallied during the final 15 minutes.

After substitute Daryl Murphy was twice denied by Stockdale, Newcastle scored what has to be regarded as one of the most fortunate goals in recent memory.

A punch from Stockdale only found Atsu, but despite his miscued volley heading wide, it diverted off a teammate onto the boot of Diame, who saw the ball hit the outside of his boot and loop into the top corner.

The goal rocked Brighton and things went from bad to worse as Newcastle netted a late second which may prove to be the difference in what is turning out to be a compelling title race.

A cross-field ball from Ritchie found Atsu and after biding his time, his low cross found the run of Perez who converted into the bottom corner from eight yards out.