Gray eager to strike up potent pairing with Big Sam

The 24-year-old shrugged the weight of expectation off his shoulders at Griffin Park as he netted 22 times in 52 appearances in all competitions, but the £6m man is happy to share the burden at Turf Moor.

Gray, who scored in each of his first two games for the Bees this term, already has a goal and two assists to his name following his move last month while Welsh international Vokes bagged his second of the term with an excellent 20-yard strike against the MK Dons midweek.

“I’ve got a strike partner now and we can both score goals,” he said. “We’re starting to get a better understanding.

“The long ball’s on for me to go in behind, as you can see how good Vokesy is in the air and holding and bringing players into the game.

“I can feed off his scraps. He’s always going to put his body on the line and something’s going to drop.

“If something drops for me five times in the season that’s five extra goals which could mean X amount of points on the board.

“It’s always good for me to take the load off me and I can do the dog work for him and he can do some for me.”

Gray added: “But we just need to win games. I’m not selfish. If I score 10 goals and we get promoted and I’m playing every game that’s good enough for me.

“Obviously I want to score, that’s the person I am, but I’m not selfish and if someone is better placed to score than me I’ll help because I’m a team player and I want us to go up.

“If we can keep that train of form going hopefully we can take the club back up,

“We’ve got a good thing going and hopefully we can keep getting more goals now and keep climbing the table.”