Former Aston Villa player Lee Hendrie has heaped praise on West Brom striker Dwight Gayle after his goal in the play-off semi-final at Villa Park on Saturday.
Gayle gave the visitors the lead in the 16th minute of the game after being put through on goal, with Gayle taking the shot early.
Talking on the Sky Sports coverage of the game (Saturday, Sky Sports, midday), Hendrie was responding to fellow pundit Liam Rosenior who said, “This from Dwight Gayle is absolutely clinical. Fantastic strike into the bottom corner of the net.”
Lee Hendrie agreed saying, “He’s absolutely clinical as they said on comms.
“When you see a striker through on goal and shooting from there you don’t expect them to score. The difference with Gayle is that you do expect him to score.”
OPINION
It was a brilliant goal from Gayle but it all went wrong for him and his team after that. He was given a second yellow card – harshly – for colliding with the Villa keeper in the second-half and that means he’ll miss the second-leg of the semi as well as the play-off final if West Brom gets through. That’s because of his earlier charge of successfully deceiving an official. That’s really bad news for West Brom who conceded two goals in the space of a few minutes late on to lose the tie on the night too. It means that West Brom are down to the bare bones up front with Hal Robson-Kanu suspended as well. James Shan has just Jay Rodriguez as a recognised striker for the next two games. However, losing 2-1 wasn’t the worst result at Villa Park and West Brom are still well in this tie. Unfortunately though, they’ll definitely have to do without Dwight Gayle. As the offence was a yellow-card there’s no right of appeal for the striker and he won’t feature again this season.