The Magpies' number nine took his tally for the season to nine goals, shooting him to the top of the Sky Bet Championship goalscoring charts.
But the 25-year-old was quick to praise his colleagues in the United ranks, who have helped him continue his hot streak in front of goal by supplying the ammunition for him."I've got to thank some of the players in the dressing room - the quality in the team is fantastic throughout the whole team. Everyone's chipping in with the assists for me," Gayle told nufc.co.uk."As you've seen today, I had two sort of tap-ins, and I'm just glad to be there and get them."I'm just doing what I can to help out the team. It's nice scoring at St. James' Park every week, and I'm delighted to be playing in front of them."
Ciaran Clark got Rafa Benitez's side off to the perfect start, heading in Jonjo Shelvey's fine cross after ten minutes.And Gayle doubled Newcastle's advantage five minutes later, showing excellent composure before firing low past Bees goalkeeper Daniel Bentley.
His second of the evening came courtesy of another Shelvey assist, and afterwards, the former Crystal Palace forward said his side's quick start set the tone for another successful afternoon."We spoke about it in the changing room before the game, about how important it was to start brightly," said Gayle. "Everyone's had two weeks off, so it might have been a slow start, but we came out of the blocks very fast. Luckily we got those two goals, and just went on from there."After we got the second goal, we perhaps started going a bit more defensive and sort of shut up shop until half time, but we kept a clean sheet to half time which was the most important thing, and it set us up for the second half I think."It was important that we continued well after the international break and got another three points on the board and just kept pushing forward really. It was a weird performance - perhaps we didn't play our best football, but we got the goals at vital times, and quietened down their attacks. It was a good, solid performance."
The Magpies now head to Barnsley on Tuesday night just a point behind league leaders Norwich City.Gayle says Newcastle must continue to keep their heads as they bid to extend their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions at Oakwell in midweek."It's important to get momentum in this league, and we had it before the international break, but it's important to keep focus and concentrate too," he said. "Otherwise, you'll get turned over by any team in this league. Anyone can beat anyone."It's amazing when you're winning games, and playing out there is amazing. When we're playing Tuesday-Saturday, it's thick and fast, everyone's getting games and it's fantastic."
