Hendrick breaks Burnley duck as Watford beaten
RECORD-SIGNING Jeff Hendrick scored his first goal for Burnley as they beat Watford 2-0 in the Premier League at Turf Moor yesterday.
Irish midfielder Hendrick signed from secondtier Derby County last month for a reported £10 million (RM54.4m) on a three-year contract.
And the 24-year-old opened the scoring in the 38th minute when he headed home Steven Defour’s corner and the Belgian set up a second goal when Michael Keane nodded in five minutes after the break.
This was promoted Burnley’s second win of the season after their shock victory over Liverpool.
“I thought the lads were terrific tonight and fully deserving of the win,” Burnley manager Sean Dyche told Sky Sports.
“If you keep clean sheets, you’re going to have a chance in games. We did well last time round,” he added.
“We didn’t score many but if you look at the goals against we did pretty well for a team that had just come up and had a big challenge on our hands.
“We know we’ve got to be productive at the top third of the pitch and that’s our big challenge.
“But we’ve had a real solid start to this season.”
Disappointed Watford captain Troy Deeney said his side had been “bullied”.
“I have to watch my words so I don’t get in trouble,” Deeney said. “We got bullied, that’s the best way to describe it. We got bullied all over the pitch to a man.
“Fair play to Burnley. They had a game plan, stuck to it and delivered.
“I’m very disappointed. We’ve had the highs of the last couple of weeks and if you don’t match those high standards, people have every right to ask questions.”
Burnley looked the likeliest to break the deadlock, with Deeney receiving little service up front.
His best chance came when his near-post shot was saved by England goalkeeper Tom Heaton.
The game looked as if it would still be deadlocked at 0-0 come halftime, when Dean Marney got on the end of a Johann Berg Gudmundsson shot to force a corner.
Defour’s cross then found Hendrick, who forced a header in over the line as Watford protested the corner had drifted out of play on its way into the box.
Burnley’s second came early in the second half, when a Defour corner came back to him and his cross saw Keane rise above the Watford defence.
Defour tried to get on the scoresheet himself with a 20-yard strike that Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes beat away.
Watford substitute Isaac Success slid a shot across goal but that was as close as the Hornets came to a revival. – AFP