Gayle hails team-mates for collective effort as survival draws closer
FORWARD INSISTS HE DOESN’T MIND WHO SCORES AS LONG AS MAGPIES AVOID THE DROP
DWIGHT Gayle was afforded a standing ovation when he was replaced by Joselu in the closing stages of Newcastle United’s 3-0 win over Southampton.
The Toon No 9 had been unable to add to his five-goal tally for the season but played a key role in setting up Kenedy for his second goal of the day during one of the game’s key moments.
The applause as he left the field was the reward for a tireless shift from the ex-Crystal Palace man.
But the forward made it clear that it wasn’t about headlinegrabbing or personal glory at this stage of the season.
Gayle summed up the attitude in the dressing room and told the Chronicle: “Everybody is just pulling in the same direction and everybody is focused on the main goal – which is to stay up.
“You can see that from everybody.
“We scored three goals on Saturday and none of them came from the strikers.
“But we are all working hard and that’s a reflection of people pulling in the same direction.”
Newcastle have suffered some nervous moments on the road in their last two away games after throwing away a 2-0 lead, handed to them by Gayle, at Bournemouth, before enduring defeat against a world-class Liverpool side.
Against Southampton, the visitors were restricted to just a couple of chances and a useful clean sheet was banked on a day of good performances from the Magpies.
If anything, with Newcastle playing a counter-attacking system, Gayle was United’s first defender as he closed down Southampton in their own half before some of their attacks were allowed to materialise.
The 27-year-old said: “The defence were fantastic as they have been for the last few months, long may that continue.
“Hopefully we can keep pushing up the table and get to a position of safety.
“I thought it was just important that we got the win and played really well.
“It was a fantastic day for everybody.”
The tone had been set in the game when Kenedy latched on to a superb ball into the box from Jonjo Shelvey before clipping it past the goalkeeper to open the scores after just 63 seconds.
Gayle admitted the goal had
We are all working hard and that’s a reflection of people pulling in the same direction Dwight Gayle
calmed the nerves of Newcastle players and ensured they went on to put in a composed performance in front of another sold-out St James’ Park.
The striker said: “It’s nice to score in the second minute.
“After that, we probably had a shaky 10 minutes and they put us under a bit of pressure on us.
“The second goal gave us the breathing space and we then played well in the second half.
“I thought we soaked up the pressure they put on us and they didn’t have too many chances.”