Wednesday 3 December 2014 16:24, UK
Burnley manager Sean Dyche said that his side are now starting to make progress in the Premier League following their hard-earned 1-1 draw with in-form Newcastle United.
The Clarets had led 1-0 at half-time, only for the visitors to draw level through Papiss Cisse’s 48th-minute strike.
However, Dyche was pleased with how his team reacted to Newcastle stepping up the pace in the second half after Newcastle boss Alan Pardew had made a double substitution at the break by introducing both Steven Taylor and Remy Cabella.
“It was a tight affair, some good quality from us, a fantastic mentality from us I thought as we were 1-0 up at half-time and then they score a really horrible goal because of us, a scruffy goal from our point of view,” said Dyche.
“And that can change the feel of it, and it did for an initial spell, but we then calmed it down and got a foothold in the game again and overall I was really pleased with the players.
“They had a lot of injuries, and only Cabella, [Emmanuel] Riviere and Taylor came on at half-time! And I’d like to have that depth of squad with those boys coming on. And they had an effect on the game and picked them up.
“But like I said, we gave them a lifeline with a really poor goal from our point of view, a scruffy goal, but overall we are making great strides, you know.”
And Dyche feels that the run Burnley have been on in recent weeks, with the Clarets having now picked up an impressive eight points from their last four Premier League encounters to move out of the bottom three, is just reward for all his players’ efforts of late.
“There has been a lot made of our style, but you look at the tinge of disappointment against Aston Villa, a very good side, and a tinge of disappointment against Newcastle too tonight, and let’s face it a very good side too on very good form, despite their blip on the weekend, then very good signs for us again,” Dyche added.
“I do not think that we have been lacking any belief all season, but sometimes you need the rub of the green, or you need a chance to go your way, and maybe we did not have that at the start of the season.
“And we had to earn our right to get those points and those goals, and I think we are now doing that and we had some real big individual performances again tonight.
“The table is what it is, we just focus on performances, because we know that if we get those right, then we get wins, and if we get plenty of wins then you know you are okay.”
