New Era and Flying Start for Dyche

Sean Dyche got his new career at Turf Moor off to a flying start in the game against Wolves at Turf Moor on Saturday. Appointed our new manager during the week, Dyche masterminded a 2-0 victory over the visitors in impressive style with the team looking assured, confident and effective in all departments. Particularly pleasing in light of recent criticism was the performance in defence. Burnley had the worst defensive record in the Championship with 29 goals conceded in 13 games ahead of this game so to keep a clean sheet was some achievement considering we had only managed that twice before all season. One thing I believe we have missed since the days of Owen Coyle is a manager who can whip up the passion in the technical area during match days and motivate the players. Both Brian Laws and Eddie Howe often just used to stand there motionless looking clueless especially when the chips were down. In Dyche we have someone animated, shouting at his players, willing them on and showing some emotion. I was very impressed watching him from the Bob Lord Stand on Saturday. I think we may have a winner here; a passionate, high-energy and seemingly loyal manager can only benefit the club in the long-term.

I have felt pretty low this season, I simply could not see under Eddie Howe how we were going to progress. It is early days but in the spate of one match under Sean Dyche, I feel invigorated again looking forward to the matches ahead and feeling motivated to travel to away games once more.

The victory on Saturday could not have come at a better time for the club. The Championship is so tight that before this game we were just five points away from either a relegation dogfight or a play-offs position and with the worst defensive record in the league it was felt we would more than likely head in the wrong direction. Sean Dyche in one game appears to have restored the faith and at the same time given the back-four renewed confidence. In 13th spot with 20 points from 14 games we are now remarkably just three points behind 6th placed club and deadly rivals Blackburn Rovers with a home game to come against Leeds United this Tuesday night. We have also moved away from the drop zone being eight points clear now putting some clear blue water between ourselves and the bottom three. In just one game, everything now looks rosy so let`s hope under Dyche we can now plough on, start to move up the table and begin to fight for promotion. The current Championship league leaders, Cardiff have only eight points more than the Clarets, so if we could manage to go on a run and string a few wins together anything is possible.

Team Sheet

Clarets fans ahead of this game were curious to know if the new manager would wring the changes having seen the debacle at Cardiff the week before his official appointment as new Burnley gaffer. In the end, he did make some interesting changes tactically although to some extent was forced to do so following news that Chris McCann was suffering from a muscle problem and was out injured. The surprise was that David Edgar was named in the starting eleven not as a defender but as a roaming midfielder with Brian Stock also shoring up the defence as holding midfielder. Ben Mee returned to the left back spot after missing the Cardiff game due to a one match suspension. Ross Wallace having recovered from a hamstring strain also returned to the starting eleven. Most Clarets fans were hard put to work out what formation we were actually playing with Edgar seemingly all over the park and thoroughly enjoying himself. Some opted for 4-2-3-1 whilst others thought 4-1-4-1 and probably in effect we interchanged between the two. At times, Burnley seemed to be playing with two holding midfielders (Edgar and Stock) whilst at other times Edgar was set free to play further forward. Sean Dyche`s first team selection for Burnley in summary though was as follows:

Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Wallace, Edgar, Marney, Stock, Paterson, Austin

Subs: Jensen, Lafferty, Long, Stewart, Stanislas, Vokes, Ings

Full Match Report

West Yorkshire referee, Mark Haywood got the game underway on a showery, overcast day in Burnley. Both teams struggled to make any headway in the first 15 minutes of the game but in the 18th minute and in the first real attack of the match Burnley got their noses in front. It all started from some cool defensive work from Michael Duff. Shaking off the presence of Ebanks-Blake, Duff passed to Shackell. The captain helped the ball onto Mee and the left back charged forward before getting in a sublime pass behind Wolves full back Kevin Foley to find Paterson. Advancing forward Pato took the ball in his stride before unleashing a shot that beat the advancing keeper and flew into the back of the net to make it 1-0 Clarets.

After that goal both sides found opportunities few and far between and there was little action at either end before the half-time whistle. Austin tried to weave an attempt through a sea of legs in the box but couldn`t find the target and with four minutes of the half-remaining Burnley came close to doubling their lead. A mistake by Wolves defender, Roger Johnson allowed Marney to pounce. Charging forward in acres of space the midfielder elected to shoot when a square pass to one of his team mates might have been more fruitful. Wolves keeper, Ikeme managed to get his glove on the ball and block the threat. Surprisingly, Wolves had been pretty lacklustre for most of the half posing little danger for our defence but they nearly equalised dead on the stroke of half-time. A low dangerous cross from Bakary Sako nearly found Ebanks-Blake who sliding just failed to make contact. A good start then for new manager, Sean Dyche with the Clarets looking comfortable and going into the dressing room at half-time 1-0 to the good.

Dyche rather unsurprisingly made no changes for the start of the second half and Burnley were soon once again on the rampage. Marney charging forward from midfield was causing Wolves all sorts of problems and Austin too was beginning to get in his stride. After cutting in from the right wing, Austin attempted a shot which flew just over the bar. His second chance of the half came when Stock won possession to set the striker free. This time his shot hit a defender`s leg but it now looked only only a matter of time before he scored and indeed he did from a corner in the 53rd minute. Wolves basically having conceded the corner fell asleep defensively allowing Austin to head home Wallace`s corner with ease to make it 2-0 Clarets. Austin having failed to score against Cardiff and set up a Burnley record of scoring in nine consecutive games was back on the warpath. That goal meant he had now scored on home soil in five consecutive games at Turf Moor making it a total of 19 goals for the season so far.

Stale Solbakken`s men now looked shell-shocked and had very few answers. It is probably safe to say this was one of the worst Wolves performances seen at the Turf in many a season. A frustrated Wolves were lucky not to be down to ten men after Johnson attempted to kick Austin whilst he was lying on the pitch. Johnson was not having a good day and his defensive blunder nearly let in Austin in the 62nd minute following a poor clearance. Austin though fluffed his chance with a poor finish. In the 70th minute, Wallace looked in a bad way after being hit by a flailing arm across his jaw line. He needed oxygen after his heart rate increased and extensive treatment before being stretchered off as a precaution to be replaced by Danny Ings. The Scot though appears to have fully recovered now and has not suffered any ill effects from his ordeal.

Although the Clarets were seemingly in control at 2-0 up, Wolves did have their odd moments to put Burnley under pressure. Sako had earlier hit the post with a thunderbolt attempt and with seventeen minutes to go Ebanks- Blake missed the opportunity to reduce the arrears with a header from eight yards out. Burnley`s defence however soaked up most of Wolves attempts to get back in the game and we never really looked in danger. If anybody was going to score again, it looked most likely to be the Clarets. Indeed, substitute, Sam Vokes nearly scored against his former club after thumping a volley just wide. Seven minutes of added time was announced by the fourth official due to the earlier treatment required for Ross Wallace but Burnley played out the time without much incident and when the final whistle finally went, it was good day all round for the fans, team and of course our new manager! Well done lads and well done Sean! Welcome to Turf Moor and bring on Leeds!

Match Stats

Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Wallace (Ings – 70), Edgar, Marney (Stanislas – 81), Stock, Paterson (Vokes – 90), Austin

Subs Not Used: Jensen, Lafferty, Long, Stewart

Goals: Paterson 18, Austin 53

Booked: Yellow Cards for Duff, Mee and Wallace

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Ikeme, Ward, Johnson (Edwards – 69), Berra, Foley, Henry, Sako, Pennant (Forde – 68), Doumbia, Ebanks-Blake, Doyle

Subs Not Used: De Vries, Stearman, Batth, Davis, Sigurdarson

Booked: Yellow Cards for Johnson and Ebanks-Blake

Possession: 51% Burnley, 49% Wolves (Source: BBC Sport)

Ref: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire)