Brazilian midfielder Joelinton fired a second-half winner to earn Newcastle United a 1-0 win at Southampton in their League Cup semi-final first leg on Tuesday, with the hosts aggrieved they were denied an equaliser by VAR.

Joelinton and Newcastle thought they had struck in the first half, but he was ruled to have handled the ball before firing home by referee Stuart Attwell.

The visitors continued to waste chances in the second half, with Joelinton missing an open goal before he made amends, arriving right on cue to convert Alexander Isak’s low cross in the 73rd minute and score what proved to be the winner.

Southampton thought they had quickly levelled things up through Adam Armstrong, but the striker was also adjudged to have used his hand, this time following a VAR review.

The VAR intervention and several fine saves from goalkeeper Nick Pope means Newcastle have kept 16 clean sheets in all competitions this season, two more than any other side in Europe’s big five leagues, including 10 in their last 11 games.