Rafa Benitez: VAR needed after Wolves defeat

The Magpies had DeAndre Yedlin sent off in the 2-1 defeat to Nuno Espirito Santo's side.

Benitez was left bemused by that decision by Mike Dean – and then felt he missed an 'obvious' elbow from Willy Boly on Ayoze Perez.

"Losing is always something you don't want or expect, but in a game where you were controlling... you see this incident, the red card, and then the elbow in the face of Ayoze (which should have been) a penalty and red card," said Benitez.

"You see the table. You lose three points. You have to keep fighting.

"I saw the replay (of the sending off) and we need VAR right now.

"You can see the replay. You can see the two incidents in the video. It was unbelievable.

"When you have a player in the corner of the box, with the ball two or three metres away... DeAndre was pulling him and (Jamaal) Lascelles was close enough.

"I cannot believe every time that (Jota) touched the ball, he would put it in the top corner.

"A clear chance on goal? I cannot believe that.

"It's very difficult. When a team like this is fighting for survival, you see this kind of situation.

"It is very difficult to explain to our fans."

Newcastle are now 15th in the Premier League – three points above the relegation zone.

"When you care, you try to do your best for your team," said Benitez.

"You see your team fighting and doing well and you cannot believe this kind of situation can happen in the Premier League.

"The (officials) say nothing. I am wasting my time when I walk and try to explain things in a polite way.

"It was an elbow in the face. he was bleeding. It was so obvious.

"I have seen the replay. Anyone can see that so we need VAR.

"I cannot understand what happened. You feel everything you have done, in terms of the hard work of the players against a team, now means nothing."

When asked if he felt the outcome would have been different if VAR was in place, Benitez added: "100 per cent."

Doherty grabbed the winner at St James' Park deep into stoppage time.

He has now scored three goals in Wolves' last five away matches.

"It feels sweet coming away from home and scoring with almost the last kick of the game," said Doherty.

"It gives them no chance to get back into it. It's pretty special.

"It was on a plate really, I couldn't really miss."