Roy Hogdson Applauds Jordan Ayew

Roy Hodgson is optimistic centre-forward Jordan Ayew was crucial in their 1-0 win at Huddersfield on Saturday in the English Premier League.

The Swansea City loanee played the entire duration of the match and provided the assist for Ivory Coast forward Wilfried Zaha to score the only goal of the match in the 38th minute.

''If we're going to have the season we would like to have, you need quality players and when they're not playing you miss them," Hodgson said in a post-match interview.

''I thought today we were fortunate with those two [Tomkins and Zaha] and to also play Jordan Ayew at centre-forward and bring Cheikhou Kouyate into the team.

"That served us well today and their work-rate, aggressive and determination meant we were able to control large swathes of the game and keep the ball out of our box, at least for long periods."

However, the 26-year-old is yet to find the back of the net.