CLEMENT BLOWN AWAY BY A GAYLE FORCE
RAFA, what have you done?
Benitez swapped Dwight Gayle for West Brom’s Salomon Rondon for a season – and the Baggies have got the best of that deal.
Gayle, Championship player of the season for September, got two more to start October off with a bang as Albion roared to a big win.
His seventh and eighth goals of the season got West Brom’s fightback under way after a poor first half against struggling Reading.
Leandro Bacuna put the Royals into a surprise lead with a superb sixth-minute goal which he angled in from the left.
But the Baggies crushed Reading in the second half with Gayle’s double followed by goals from impressive Harvey Barnes and central defender Kyle Bartley’s first for the club.
Manager Darren Moore said: “At half-time I said we would have to find a way to break down a stubborn rearguard.
“If we were to win the game then we’d have to go and take it.” And that’s what West Brom did. The victory lifted them to second in the table, a point behind Sheffield United. Impressively, they have banged in 31 goals so far – 10 more than the leaders.
And Gayle’s influence is immense.
In his last 10 league starts he has not only scored eight times, he has won four penalties – all of them put away – and been on the winning side seven times.
“It was Gayle’s first goal from Tyrone Mears’ cross that knocked the wind out of their sails,” added Moore, who has now guided his side to an unbeaten seven-game league run. “That gave us fresh impetus to go on and win. We were clinical with our chances again. We finished very strongly. Reading tired and the gaps opened up. We finished Reading off.”
After Gayle’s goals in the 49th and 65th minutes, Barnes got on the scoresheet with a fine long-range effort.
And then defender Bartley got the fourth from a corner to add the crowning glory.
Reading finished battered – after a good first half – to leave them hovering above the relegation places.
Boss Paul Clement said: “We played well in the first half, possibly the best we have played this season and if we had got the second maybe it would have been different.
“In the end it’s become our heaviest defeat of the season.” finishes from all areas and on attacking from deeper areas.”
Meanwhile, Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay reckons his side are narrowing the gap on the sides at the top.
He said: “We are very close to the top teams. If we had got the two extra points against West Brom we would be in the play-off positions.
“I think we deserve more points than we have, especially from the two home games against Hull City and West Brom.
“If we had four points more, our position in the league would be fantastic.
“We felt we had the control against West Brom and in two minutes we came from a very good feeling to big disappointment.
“But we played two draws against two of the best teams in the division.
“What the team did against Leeds and West Brom, I have respect for that.
“From the period of the last eight Championship games, we win four, play three draws and lose just one.
“Whether we have brought new players into the team because of injury or suspension or changed the formation, the team have really made a good job in the last period.”
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