Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce lamented a short spell which allowed Aston Villa to claim a 2-0 victory on Monday night.
Goals from Anwar El-Ghazi and Conor Hourihane scored two goals in four minutes in the first-half at Villa Park.
"The first half in particular we did not do enough with or without the ball," said Bruce to Sky Sports.
"Two free-kicks, we felt we were harshly done by but the way Conor Hourihane has executed them made it a difficult night.
"Conor is very good, I have seen it many times and he has the accuracy and power to score. The second one, our defenders have to defend better, too many stood and watched it.
"The game was gone in two minutes in the Premier League. We had chances before and after half-time when Tom Heaton made some good saves."
