He told the Evening Gazette: "I think there's a lot of criticism of him, but he's only had really three or four starts for us and it's hard if you haven't been first choice to get a flow and get your confidence up.

"He needs people to be supportive of him and I thought the two games against Sunderland and Spurs in particular, for large parts he's had to play up front on his own and that's a tough role for anybody.

"He's done a job for the team when asked and hopefully he can get goals that will answer the critics."