Moore merrier after two-goal Gayle sees off Stoke

Posted Sunday, September 02, 2018 by PA

West Brom manager Darren Moore hailed striker Dwight Gayle after his matchwinning brace in the 2-1 Sky Bet Championship victory against Stoke.

Gayle, who is on loan from Newcastle, broke the deadlock in the 16th minute and then doubled the advantage 14 minutes into the second half.

The visitors squandered a chance to get back into the game when Benik Afobe fired a 71st-minute penalty against the bar after Jake Livermore had handled the ball.

Erik Pieters then grabbed a consolation strike in added time but it was of little consequence for Stoke.

Moore said: “I thought that Dwight scored two very good goals. I think his calmness and composure when he gets in front of goal is there for all to see.

“I am really pleased for Dwight that in the impressive team play leading up to the goal that he was able to tuck them both away.

“I felt Dwight would be a good fit here in terms of what we are trying to bring to the club.

“His character is very, very good and he has added to the team and we are delighted to have him here.

“But overall I am pleased with the three points on an afternoon when it was a good team performance.

“If we had been a little bit more clinical with the chances that we created we could have scored more goals today.

“It is always good to have that goal threat and the opportunities to score goals.

“Hopefully if we can keep getting into those positions we can score more than we miss.

“When you look at the team and the areas that we can get in to it is always nice to have that threat on the field.

“It always nice to know you have players who can create something out of nothing. We have that here at West Brom.”

Stoke boss Gary Rowett had no complaints about the effort of his side but admits they have to be more clinical.

Rowett, whose team have taken only five points from their opening six games, said: “It was a disappointing afternoon because apart from key moments in the game I felt we played quite well.

“I think we put something like 41 crosses into the box but with not enough quality. Sometimes we need to have a bit more ingenuity in and around the box.

“While West Brom defended everything we put in, we allowed two goals. Dwight Gayle walked through four senior players for his first and his second for me was schoolboy defending in a two on one situation.”

Rowett also felt Livermore should have been sent-off after his handball on the line.

He added: “I think that Simon (Hooper) is a terrific referee. He said to me it is not a sending off because it hit the post and Livermore accidentally handballs it.

“He doesn’t, he deliberately handballs it and for me that has to be a sending off otherwise you would encourage your defenders to handle the ball on the line.

“Whether we would have got back in the game I don’t know but to sum up the afternoon we miss the penalty when we could have given ourselves 20 minutes of pressure.”