DWIGHT GAYLE regards Newcastle United’s Championship title triumph as one of his greatest moments in football, but is confident even better things lie ahead when the Magpies return to the Premier League next season.

Gayle scored Newcastle’s final goal in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Barnsley, but his efforts looked like being in vain when Brighton remained in pole position with just one minute of their game at Aston Villa to play.

Jack Grealish’s 89th-minute equaliser at Villa Park changed everything, and meant Newcastle were crowned champions after an agonising wait for the final whistle in the Midlands.

Securing an immediate return to the Premier League was always the overriding ambition this season, but a Championship winners’ medal is a welcome bonus as Newcastle’s players prepare for the top-flight.

“It’s my favourite season, and my favourite end to a season,” said Gayle, who dropped out of the Premier League to join Newcastle in a £10m move from Crystal Palace last summer. “I was saying to a few of the boys, ‘You’re going to remember this for the rest of your lives’.

“Winning things is the most important thing, and the fact we won the Championship is a great achievement. We’re all buzzing about it.

“It was a fantastic day for us, and the fact we managed to do it in the end was a great feeling. It was a big thing for the players, the coaching staff and the fans as well.

“We’re thankful for the fans, and the way they’ve turned up in numbers home and away. We’re glad we got there for them.”

Prior to moving to the North-East, Gayle made 64 Premier League appearances for Crystal Palace, scoring 15 goals, and the striker is looking forward to reacquainting himself with the top-flight next season.

He finished the Championship campaign with 23 league goals to his name, even though he missed a large chunk of the second half of the season through injury, and is confident he will be similarly successful when he steps up in August.

“The most important thing for us was to get back up, but you have your personal targets and I reached that,” said Gayle. “Hopefully, I can push on for next season.”

Having proved his well-being with an 11-minute run-out at the weekend, he will be doing everything he can to ensure he is injury free when pre-season training resumes at the start of July.

Hamstring problems plagued him in the second half of the season, but while he was initially advised to sit out Sunday’s title decider, he was determined to make one more appearance in what has turned out to be a landmark campaign.

“I’ve had some bad times with my hamstrings, and it was probably best for me to just sit it out, but I always want to be playing and to have missed the last day would have been gutting,” he said.

“I've been doing as much as I can, and the physio team have been helping me. I'm glad I got the last ten minutes of the game.”