STEVE BRUCE was happy with his players’ effort at Stamford Bridge, but admits a lack of a cutting edge proved costly as Newcastle United crashed to a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.

Unlike in their most recent away outing at Leicester City, when they threw in the towel as they suffered a five-goal defeat, Bruce’s side could not be accused of a lack of commitment as they went down to Marcos Alonso’s second-half strike.

However, they failed to record a single effort on target all game, something Bruce admits is a major source of concern.

“There was a spell just after half-time where they’ve (Chelsea) had their best spell in the game and they’ve scored from it,” said Bruce. “Up until then we gave as good as we got, but obviously the most important thing for us to work on is up the top end of the pitch.

“In the first half in particular, we had one or two opportunities where we misplaced the pass or didn’t take the right option. Hopefully, we can improve on that.

“I thought in the first half, we showed enough quality. Second half, we struggled and tired a bit. The way they went about their job, and their effort and commitment, I couldn’t have faulted.

“I thought we looked a threat on the break, and if we can be a bit more careful with the final pass, then of course the big thing is we have to find some goals. But certainly in the first half in particular, we looked a threat.”

Bruce felt particularly aggrieved at Chelsea’s winner as he felt a foul on Joelinton had gone unpunished in the build-up to the goal.

“I thought it was a blatant foul on Joelinton in front of us in the build-up to the goal,” said Bruce, who did not feel Alonso’s booking for a foul on DeAndre Yedlin should have been a red card. “We didn’t regain the ball so there can’t really be any VAR because it was about 30 or 40 seconds later, but in the build-up to it, to me it was a blatant foul on Jo.

“When you come here, you need those sorts of decisions to go your way, not against you.”

Today’s result has dumped Newcastle back into the relegation zone, behind 17th-placed Southampton on goal difference, but Bruce feels the difficulty of his side’s start should be taken into account.

“We’ve had a really difficult start in terms of who we’ve played – we’ve played Tottenham, Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal and now Chelsea,” he said. “We’ve been away to Leicester – we’ve had a really tough start.

“We’ve now got a run of games where, with no disrespect, we’re going to be playing the teams that are going to be in and around us. It’s a vitally important time and we’ll look forward to it.”