Crouch vows to help misfiring Berahino

PETER Crouch knows exactly what Saido Berahino is going through and has assured his Stoke team-mate his goal drought will eventually come to an end.

Potters striker Berahino has not scored in the 32 games he has played since February 2016 and missed his fourth successive penalty in that period when Fraser Forster saved his attempt in Stoke’s 2-1 win over Southampton on Saturday.

It was Crouch, brought on for Berahino, who struck the winner five minutes from time but he had sympathy for the man he replaced

Drought: Saido Berahino

given his struggles in front of goal.

Crouch was in that very position at the start of his Liverpool career in 2005 and it took him until December to open his account for the Reds having gone over 24 hours of football without scoring for club and country.

He went on to net seven times that month but his drought is one Berahino can relate to, even down to the penalty Crouch had saved during his fruitless run.

“I’ve actually spoken to him,” Crouch said.

“I’ve been there myself at Liverpool. I took the ball off Steven Gerrard once (for a penalty against Portsmouth) and missed as well when I was going through a little barren spell.

“I speak from experience. He will come through it. He works hard in training, he’s always doing finishing. It’s just not going for him at the moment but he’s a good player and he’ll come through it I’m sure.” WEST Ham goalkeeper Joe Hart saluted Diafra Sakho for his match-winning cameo against Swansea.

A drab game was meandering towards a goalless draw until substitutes Sakho, Arthur Masuaku and Manuel Lanzini combined for a dramatic last-minute goal.

Lanzini fed Masuaku, who skipped down the left before swinging in a perfect cross for Sakho to slide home to give the Hammers a 1-0 victory.

Yet had the Senegal striker got his way last month he would not

Winner: Diafra Sakho

even be at the club any more, having tried to force a deadline-day move to French club Rennes.

Hart said: “The changes were brilliant. “Arthur came on and changed the game for us, it was good to have Manuel Lanzini back and you can’t ask for much more than what Diaf gave us.

“It’s been difficult for him after the issues he had at the end of the transfer window, but he’s come in, he’s scored goals in the Carabao Cup and when he got his chance, he won us the game.

It meant more disappointment for Swansea, who also let in a last-minute goal to lose at home to Watford last weekend.

Midfielder Leon Britton, making his first appearance since the opening day of the season, said: “We are frustrated, the players and the fans, At 0-0 after 89 minutes, you think the least we will get is a point, but we have ended up with nothing. It’s hard to take.”