RESULT! Hotshot Vaughan comes to the four
JAMES VAUGHAN scored four goals in the first 27 minutes as Bury beat Peterborough 5-1 with the performance of the day in League One.
Tom Nichols gave Posh a fourth-minute lead but Vaughan (below) quickly equalised and had completed his treble by the 24th minute before incredibly adding a fourth.
George Miller netted the fifth in the second half as Bury clinched their first win in 21 games and moved out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Walsall were also rampant as they stunned Sheffield United 4-1 to end a run of six straight league wins by the leaders.
Amadou Bakayoko’s early opener, followed by second-half goals from Jason McCarthy, Joe Edwards and Erhun Oztumer – with a penalty – secured an emphatic win for the Saddlers.
Second-placed Scunthorpe took advantage of that slip-up as Josh Morris struck an 83rd-minute curler to help edge out Northampton 2-1 and cut the gap at the top to one point.
Scunthorpe are now five points clear of Bolton, who lost 2-1 at home to Swindon. David Wheater’s second-half opener was cancelled out by Ben Gladwin’s deflected strike before Yaser Kasim snatched an 89th-minute winner.
Freddie Ladapo’s 41st-minute strike on his home debut earned Shrewsbury a 1-0 win at home to Bradford, while Rochdale lost 2-1 at Southend through Simon Cox’s last-gasp winner after both sides had a man sent off. Sean Kelly’s first goal for Wimbledon helped them come from behind to beat Oxford 2-1. Goals from Ashley Hunter, Cian Bolger and David Ball extended Fleetwood’s unbeaten run to nine matches with a 3-1 win at home to Bristol Rovers.
Elsewhere, John Sheridan began his third spell in charge of Oldham with a 1-0 win at home to Gillingham, with Josh Law scoring their first goal at home since mid-October, while a Dan Gardner goal was enough for Chesterfield to beat fellow strugglers Coventry.
Charlton and Millwall shared a goalless stalemate at The Valley.
Lasse Vibe’s second-half equaliser was not enough to earn the Bees the share of the spoils their performance deserved as the Magpies withstood a late barrage to take all three points.
Gayle gave Newcastle the lead after 20 minutes, racing clear down the left and cutting inside before rifling an unstoppable shot across Bees keeper Dan Bentley into the far corner.
But Danish striker Vibe hit back for a revitalised Brentford just after the break when he lashed home a loose ball in the box after United’s defence failed to clear a corner.
Murphy, who replaced the injured Gayle after 28 minutes, popped up with 11 minutes to go to coolly glance home Ayoze Perez’s exquisite cross with his head and earn United all three points.
The gloss was taken off the result with the loss of Gayle and substitute Vurnon Anita just after he had come on in the second half.
And Benitez fears he will have to cope without Gayle for several weeks after a suspected hamstring injury. He said: “It was a pity we lost Dwight because he was in form but now it looks like we will lose him for some games.
“But I was pleased with the players coming off the bench and proud of the team because they had to work so hard and manage the situation.
“We knew it would be a difficult game because we watched them and they play good football.
“We had to defend well but I don’t think they will be very happy with some decisions like us – but in the end we got three points.”
Newcastle started brightly and Gayle came close to giving the visitors the lead with just two minutes on the clock but his low, angled drive was deflected into the side-netting by Harlee Dean.
A Josh McEachran corner eluded everyone in the Newcastle box as the back four played statues before Gayle raced up the other end to score.
Vibe should have done better on the half-hour when he raced on to Dean’s defence-splitting pass but fired straight at Karl Darlow.
And Vibe saw yet another low drive saved by Darlow’s legs but his best effort of an end-to-end second half came just after the hour mark.
He was played in by a flicked pass from Romaine Sawyers and chipped Darlow only to see his clever effort bounce back to safety off the far post.
The luckless striker went close again, this time a toe-poked effort bobbled past the far post.
After Murphy (below) netted his late strike, Brentford threw the kitchen sink at the visitors, who rode their luck repeatedly to cling on for the points.
Vibe was sent flying in the box but the Griffin Park faithful were incensed as late substitute Philipp Hofmann almost had his shirt ripped off his back, only for referee Chris Kavanagh to wave play on.
Brentford boss Dean Smith said: “I watched it back and Hoff is going to head the ball and their guy is going away from goal with a fistful of his shirt, so how it’s not a penalty I don’t know.”
And Smith explained why he opted to leave £15millionrated West Ham a nd Wat f o r d transfer target Scott Hogan on the bench.
“I made the decision on Thursday not to play Scott and felt Sawyers and Vibe did well last week.
“It is difficult for him and I decided not to start him in the long-term interests of the football club.”