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Eddie Howe has laughed at Jonjo Shelvey’s post-match comments claiming his former Newcastle United team-mates are ‘whingebags’.

Shelvey was part of the Nottingham Forest team that lost heartbreakingly to Howe’s side at the City Ground last night.

The hosts took the lead through a cheeky finish from Emmanuel Dennis only to concede twice, including a stoppage-time penalty, to Alexander Isak and, in doing so, lose an unbeaten home league record dating back to September.

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It has also buoyed them in the battle to overcome the Premier League slump and meant that Shelvey’s first meeting with the club where he spent seven years ended in disappointment and frustration over a series of calls against the Reds.

Speaking afterwards, the midfielder said: “I didn’t think they would complain as much as they did on the pitch, but at the end of the day it’s a football game so I’m going to give everything for this club. As soon as that you cross the white line, I’m there to win and obviously we didn’t do it today, but we’ll be back.

“There are a lot of whingebags on his team to be fair and I’ll tell you that now. I’ll tell you jokingly, but obviously, I hope they make it to Europe. I only have positive words to say about the whole club, the people, the staff. I made a lot of friends there and I was glad they kept pushing the league forward.”

Howe was asked about that comment, but he didn’t seem too upset. “That’s a good expression,” the Newcastle head coach told reporters. “It’s hard. On the court, even I don’t know very well what happens there. I certainly have only positive things to say about Jonjo.”

Howe went on to explain his belief that the correct result had been reached, albeit in dramatic fashion.

“For most of the game, I thought there was a 10- to 15-minute period in the first half when they scored and we got a little lost. Other than that, I thought we were very, very good. I had a feeling, we had so many chances in the first half, it wasn’t going to be our night. But the guys kept going and I thought we deserved to win the game.

“I am very happy with the performance that the players are giving physically, we are very fit, I think we saw it in today’s game, we kept going and we were the strongest team.”

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