Ayoze Pérez’s own goal gives Leicester City victory at Newcastle United

There were moments when Newcastle United showcased commendable resilience and resolve but Ayoze Pérez’s agonising late own goal means they have now collected only one point from their last seven games.

As Claude Puel’s quietly effective “velvet” Leicester revolution continued with a third straight win and the home side’s 125th birthday party was ruined, Rafa Benítez had every right to look worried. Newcastle’s manager knows that simply holding their own requires his players to perform at maximum capacity.

At times his team resembled the driver of a modest city run-about pressing their foot flat to the floor as they struggle to overtake lorries on a motorway. Togetherness and tenacity can only take a squad now hovering just above the relegation zone so far.

“I’m really disappointed,” said Benítez. “The players, they put in an effort, but still we have to improve if we want to get points in these kind of games. We’ve paid for easy mistakes. We have to learn quickly.”

After a highly evocative preamble, which saw the 125th anniversary of Newcastle’s formation marked by home supporters waving a multitude of flags, raising numerous banners and generally turning the stands into a sea of black and white, Joselu opened the scoring.

Newcastle’s fifth-minute goal began with Dwight Gayle pulling wide, dodging Danny Simpson and haring down the left. He then cut the ball back for the onrushing, and unmarked, Joselu to beat Kasper Schmeichel with a first-time, right-foot shot.

When Gayle subsequently fired fractionally wide, Benítez’s tactical gamble in fielding two strikers in a 4-4-2 formation seemed vindicated. The downside was that it left Leicester with an extra man in midfield, along with additional counterattacking scope.

Sure enough Puel was soon celebrating a stunning, crowd-silencing equaliser from Riyad Mahrez. It originated in central midfield where Mikel Merino, once again preferred to Jonjo Shelvey, forfeited possession to the influential Wilfred Ndidi.

That slapdash loss of concentration liberated Mahrez to run at the heart of Newcastle’s defence before eluding Karl Darlow’s grasp courtesy of a left-footed, 25-yard shot which the goalkeeper touched but could not hold as it arrowed into the top corner.

It was an eye-catching finish from a rejuvenated playmaker but Darlow, preferred to Rob Elliot, looked disappointed not to have held it. Tellingly, Benítez was left deeply frustrated when Newcastle’s owner, Mike Ashley, thwarted his attempts to sign an experienced keeper last summer.

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Merino’s recruitment was sanctioned and, overall, he looks a very good buy but, unusually, the Basque midfielder struggled here, looking ruffled whenever the thoroughly menacing Demarai Gray entered his sphere. By half-time the increasingly elusive Gray had, tantalisingly, curled a couple of shots inches wide.

With Matt Ritchie’s own travails suggesting Newcastle’s right winger has hit a bit of a wall and needs a rest, Benítez could do with making a couple of signings next month with a Gray-esque capacity for making things happen. Unfortunately, with negotiations progressing slowly as Ashley and Amanda Staveley haggle over the terms of the latter’s mooted takeover, he remains unsure if he will be equipped with the funds needed to avert a relegation skirmish.

Although Schmeichel saved smartly from Jacob Murphy, the trio of Gray, Mahrez and Ndidi were all in such impressive form that Leicester – who had a penalty appeal rejected when Jamie Vardy crumpled under DeAndre Yedlin’s challenge – appeared comfortably in control.

An intensifying Arctic chill ensured spectators lost feeling in their fingers and toes, and early evening Geordie optimism ebbed away.

Such fears were realised in the 60th minute. Granted, Gray deserved a goal but after meeting Marc Albrighton’s adroit pass, a little luck entered the equation when his shot swerved past a wrong-footed Darlow after deflecting off Florian Lejeune. That said, Mahrez’s glorious crossfield pass which prefaced Albrighton’s assist merited proper reward.

Hearteningly for Benítez, Newcastle refused to fold and, in the fallout from Merino’s panic-provoking header following a corner, Gayle’s left-footed shot deflected off Harry Maguire before whizzing past Schmeichel.

With the game thrillingly open, Gayle shot marginally wide but Leicester’s counterattacking skill won it. Their decisive break concluded with Vardy riding Lejeune’s tackle before crossing, Shinji Okazaki shaping to shoot and Pérez’s desperate attempt to clear diverting the ball into his own net.

The Japan striker was duly rewarded for playing on despite a head wound leaving him swathed in bandages. “Shinji’s kamikaze,” said the often inscrutable Puel. “He’s fantastic, he gives his body for the team.”