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Watford's Heurelho Gomes: 'We needed this win' over West Brom

Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was the undisputed man of the match for the Hornets' against West Brom on Saturday after saving two penalties in their 1-0 win.

Gomes denied West Brom striker Saido Berahino twice from the spot, after Ben Watson had given Watford the lead, to seal the three points.

The win lifts Watford to 41 points, which means they are all but safe in the Premier League for another season, on a day that saw bottom-side Aston Villa relegated.

"Praise God for this moment," Gomes told Watford's official website. "We needed this win, it's a huge win. Now we must keep going. The boys worked so hard.

He added: "The fans push us all the way and the boys take lots of credit. We deserve the points we have. The win was so important. I was really prepared to help the boys and I believe we really deserved this three points."

Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores also had praise for his goalkeeper.

"We are happy we didn't concede a lot of chances, just the two penalties, and when he had to Heurelho made the saves. He is important for us," said the Spaniard.

"I think a clean sheet is always important for the team. I'm not sure exactly how we conceded two penalties but he (Gomes) had to save them, this is normal. We are really happy for the performance of Heurelho because he is one of the main players for us this season."

Meanwhile, it was not such a good day for Berahino who tweeted about his devastation after the match, but West Brom boss Tony Pulis did not blame the striker.

The 22-year-old, who in August had a written transfer request turned down by the club amid several rejected offers for him from Tottenham and has struggled for fitness and form since, saw his first penalty in the 67th minute beaten away by Gomes diving to his right.

With three minutes remaining, the Brazilian goalkeeper repeated the feat, this time getting down to his left-hand side to divert Berahino's goal-bound effort away from the bottom corner of the net.

Asked if Berahino was feeling down after the game, Pulis said: "I would say that's an understatement. He's really disappointed. It's a cruel game at times, but it happens. Good strikers miss penalties. That's football. He's a good player.

"Since I've been here he's always been the penalty taker, and he's always been competent as well.

"He wanted to take the second one. I think if he lacked any confidence he'd have walked away from it. You can't have a go at him as the keeper has made a fantastic save for the second one. It was a well-struck penalty and it was a fantastic save."

Berahino was not the only West Brom player to find Gomes in fantastic form. The 35-year-old enjoyed a storming afternoon, producing smart saves to twice thwart Stephane Sessegnon in the first half and acrobatically deny Gareth McAluley shortly after half-time.

Pulis said: "Like I said, it can be a cruel game at times. I thought we played well. We've had something like 40-odd crosses, 16 efforts on goal and two penalties and not got anything from the game. How that's happened I just don't know.

"But that's the way it goes sometimes, it just wasn't our day in front of goal. Obviously the lads are really disappointed, some of them put in really good performances."

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.