West Brom striker Dwight Gayle named Championship player of the month

The 28-year-old Newcastle loanee saw of competition from Villa’s Jack Grealish to land the prize after an excellent month which saw him net six goals in as many games.

That included a hat-trick, his second of the season, in the Baggies 4-1 home win over Preston.

Gayle has enjoyed a superb campaign at The Hawthorns, scoring 23 goals to date and was recently named supporters’ player of the season.

He will be a pivotal player as the Baggies hunt promotion through the play-offs.

Albion caretaker boss Jimmy Shan said: "Dwight's award is thoroughly deserved.

“His goalscoring prowess is there for all to see but what we have learned at Albion this season is that he is fantastic character too with a great attitude to his football and within the team.

"Dwight is a huge asset on the pitch but equally he is invaluable around the dressing room.

"He has shown in April and throughout the entire season, which is why he was voted the club's supporters' player of the season.”

Gayle said: “It’s nice to win the award and I have got to give a big thank you to my team-mates as a lot of my goals have come from inside the six-yard box, so there’s a lot of great passes and great assists from the team.

“I want to be scoring as many goals as I can to help the team out and luckily this month was one of the months that I managed to score a few.

“Getting a hat-trick is nice and I’m going to have the ball to remember it by and hopefully I can get another one before the season finishes.”

Grealish had been named in a four-man shortlist which also included Derby County’s Jayden Bogle and Swansea’s Dan James.

Villa boss Dean Smith, meanwhile, lost out to Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder for the manager of the month award.

Smith had received his second successive nomination, after winning the prize for March.