Newcastle boss Eddie Howe lamented their wayward finishing after defeat at Brighton.
Evan Ferguson scored a hat-trick as Brighton won 3-1, with Callum Wilson scoring a late consolation for Newcastle.
Howe said: "We started really well and those chances are key when you come here as Brighton are a good team, we had good momentum at stages in the game but we created our own problems I think with the first goal and that was key in the game.
"I think the tale is very similar to last week we had chances to score and we didn't take them and at this level you can get punished the other way and that's what happened.
"When you reflect back on start of the season when you get the fixtures this was incredibly difficult start for us, very big win in the first one [opening fixture] in my opinion we should have beaten Liverpool, but we didn't so that is hurting us.
On the big ambitions of the club, he added: "That is the reality of what we are dealing with, the expectations go up and the demands go up. It has been disappointing start in terms of results ,but I cannot fault the effort of the players highlighted by Callum Wilson's goal at the end we must stick with the positives."
