Bees blown away by Gayle force wind at St James’
DWIGHT GAYLE moved to the top of the Sky Bet Championship goalscoring charts with a brace as Newcastle beat Brentford at St James’ Park to climb to second in the table.
Jonjo Shelvey was the architect behind all three of the home side’s goals as they recorded a third straight league victory.
Ciaran Clark headed in the opener for the hosts, while Scott Hogan’s secondhalf effort for the Bees was little more than a mere consolation.
Rafa Benitez had urged his side to make a good start in his programme notes and afterwards he said: “We did everything we wanted to do – we controlled the game and had good chances.
“I’m pleased, but we can still improve.”
And the Spaniard was not to be disappointed as the hosts went two up inside 16 minutes in front of a bumper St James’ Park crowd of 51,885.
However, it was visitors Brentford who carved out the first opportunity of the fixture in the ninth minute. Maxime
Colin’s cross from the right found Hogan in acres of space, but the striker headed high and wide.
Newcastle made the away side pay for their missed opportunity just two minutes later, when Shelvey’s deep cross found Clark unmarked and the Irish centre- back headed in from six yards to break the deadlock.
Shelvey was also at the heart of the home side’s second goal in the 16th minute.
The Brentford backline failed to deal with his searching ball over the top and Gayle found some space before rifling in a low effort from 12-yards.
The hosts thought they had a third after 23 minutes when Yoan Gouffran stung Daniel Bentley’s palms from 20 yards, before Ayoze Perez converted with his hand – the latter effort rightly chalked off by referee Simon Hooper.
Christian Atsu’s curling shot from 20-yards whistled the wrong side of the post as Newcastle continued to dominate the fixture.
But Brentford finally got a shot on target after 35 minutes as Romaine Sawyers’ clever ball over the top found Nico Yennaris, whose volley was well kept out by Karl Darlow.
Gayle’s ninth goal in 10 games for the Magpies looked to have put the game to bed four minutes after half-time.
The former Crystal Palace forward converted a tap-in from Shelvey’s low cross following a neat move down the left flank.
Brentford responded as Hogan netted his eighth of the season from close- range after Newcastle failed to deal with a 51st-minute corner.
Newcastle continued to press, with Perez seeing a low effort well saved.
Shelvey spurning a chance to register the goal his performance deserved when he curled a 74th-minute free-kick over the crossbar.
Gayle was denied a hat- tr ick when Bentley kept out his long-range effort late on, while Shelvey would have had a four th assist had Achraf Lazaar not fired wide from his pass in stoppage time.