It’s a brilliant result in a strange game

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It was Burnley’s day at St. Mary’s as we beat Southampton 2-1 and it was a game in which home boss Ralph Hasenhüttl admitted his side deserved to take nothing from.

In difficult conditions, he saw us twice go in front, the second time enough for us to take the points and said after the game: “We know this is a difficult opponent, especially if you are one down after two minutes from a set piece. It’s not possible to concede a goal like this, but I think we showed a good reaction afterwards, we came back with a good equaliser.

Embed from Getty Images“We played some good balls in the first half and tried to give them a little bit of pressure, but it’s not easy, they are very well organised, aggressive against the ball and never give you a chance to win the ball because they immediately play long. Everybody knows how they play, but they do it well and they did it well today. It’s always nasty to play against, but we knew this.

“We got the equaliser and spoke at half time about leaving everything on the pitch in the second half. Even then, you could see it wasn’t easy to keep them in their half. We conceded the goals too easily and losing the game we deserved.”

Over the past few weeks, much of the talk has been of the futures of Ben Gibson and Matěj Vydra. Gibson, as we know, is training with Middlesbrough but Vydra remains at Burnley and it was he who came on and won it for us with the second goal.

“The squad mentality is a massive thing for us because we don’t roll through the Premier League every year winning games easily,” Sean Dyche said after this victory. “We have to work for everything and that takes a squad, so great credit to Matěj, along with many others here who don’t always get a lot of football but who, when they are ready, come in and perform.

“That’s credit to their professionalism and how they train, and all the other lads getting around them and looking after them, when they aren’t playing. That’s the unity of the players here. They care about each other and they know how hard it is. There is so much respect in this group and we insist on that.”

Vydra received a big reception from his team mates when he returned to the dressing room after the game and Dyche added: “Even when players are not in the side, they know they are respected and that roar in the dressing room was for a player who has worked hard in training and stuck at it and then finds a magic moment, for him and for us. He deserves all the credit today for a fine goal that was worthy of winning any game.”

Dyche said of the win: “It’s a brilliant result in a strange game. We set off with an early goal, but we didn’t really grip the game and we let them get a foothold. They are a good side, and played well, so maybe that’s a little unfair to them, but we couldn’t really feel the game.

“At half time we changed a couple of things and I thought the second half was more of a controlled performance. We quelled a lot of their threat and then found a brilliant goal from Vyds following a great piece of play by Jeff Hendrick.

“I’m probably being hyper critical, but we then had two or three golden moments to kill off the game, but we saw the game through, so I have to be pleased with that. Ten points out of four games is pleasing for all of us and that could easily have been 12.

“I don’t think we hit those heights today, but in a way that’s pleasing because if you can find a way to win, that’s sometimes what you have to do.”

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