ASHLEY Barnes has been saluted by his manager as an unsung hero of Albion’s success.

Gus Poyet believes Saturday’s match-winner at Bristol City is underrated and does not get the credit he deserves.

Barnes is topping the scoring charts with five goals in eight games already this season for the Championship leaders after 20 in last season’s League One title triumph.

Poyet told The Argus: "The best thing about Ash is he knows how much we value him. We don’t care about the rest, he knows how me, Tano, Charlie and the people on the staff value him for what he does during a game.

“It is very easy for people just to see 1-0 Barnes but they don’t see all his running behind the full-back, when he is coming back, when he is doing his defending at set plays.

“There are plenty of things that he does. For someone to play in this team he needs to be very good and that’s a problem for the rest, because not only is he scoring he also does the other stuff."

Five pages of Albion analysis in The Argus today