DWIGHT GAYLE RETURNED from injury to round off a 3-1 victory for Newcastle over Huddersfield in their Championship clash on Saturday and take a huge step towards an immediate return to the Premier League.
Gayle’s 21st goal of the season — adding to Matt Ritchie’s penalty and Daryl Murphy’s strike in the first-half — sends the Magpies five points clear of Brighton, who they beat last Tuesday, and more importantly 11 ahead of third-placed Huddersfield.
Ritchie and Murphy’s goals had given the visitors a comfortable cushion at the break.
An improved display in the second-half saw the hosts reduce the deficit through a penalty by Australian Aaron Mooy, but Gayle restored the two-goal advantage in time added on.
“We spoke in the week about being hard to beat,” Ritchie told Sky Sports.
“We were solid and resolute in the second half. It is brilliant to be involved in the title race as it is what we wanted at the start of the season. We are three points closer.”
Newcastle had a boost prior to the game with Brighton’s shock 3-0 loss at Nottingham Forest leaving the losers’ manager Chris Hughton nervously looking over his shoulder at the chasing pack.
“This is a tough period for us, but we knew that, we knew that there are a group of teams behind us that will get a lot of wins,” he told the BBC.
“We want to make sure that we get back on track come Tuesday night (away to bottom side Rotherham) and for the rest of the season because it won’t be easy, everybody’s pushing.
“We’re going to have to show what we’ve shown for the bulk of the season to make sure we stay where we want to.”
Hughton will pray his side, who only lost out on automatic promotion last season by virtue of goal difference, do regain form with Huddersfield just six points adrift and Leeds picking up steam a further point behind.
Garry Monk’s side weathered an early storm by Birmingham City on Friday to secure a 3-1 victory and extend their unbeaten run to four.
Birmingham manager Gianfranco Zola has just two wins in 16 matches.
They face a testing trip to Fulham on Tuesday against another side in a purple patch, the Cottagers having dispensed with Preston 3-1 on Saturday to sit five points off the play-offs but with a game in hand on sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday.
Wednesday, who lost to Hull in the play-off final last season, stayed in the hunt with a 5-1 hammering of Norwich, whose manager Alex Neil’s future could be in some doubt as they have a nine-point gap to make up to reach the play-offs.
“We didn’t handle the magnitude of the game and a few honest words were spoken after the game,” said Neil, who kept his job even though Norwich were relegated last season. “They know it was unacceptable.”
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