Jack puts a cork in talk of Dyche axe

JACK CORK shot down talk of Sean Dyche being under pressure despite Burnley’s seven-match winless run.

The Clarets slipped into the bottom three after goals from James McArthur and Andros Townsend helped Palace win for the first time at home this season.

But for a series of saves from Joe Hart it would have been a whole lot worse, and the visitors failed to manage a single shot on target.

It leaves the heat on Burnley boss Dyche, who masterminded their march into the Europa League last season but is fighting for his job.

Cork said: “Is it ridiculous people are saying he’s under pressure? Yeah, definitely. It’s a strange thing to hear after the season he has just had.

“We’re on a bad run. We’re not getting results. And performances are not what we’d like either. But we have a great set of lads. We need to sort it out. It’s the toughest spell I can remember.

“When your confidence isn’t high you can make the wrong decisions. We need to focus on the quality, because the fire will always be there.”

Dyche admits his side’s confidence is so low he is treating them with kid HARD TO BEAR: Dyche suffers as

Burnley lose again

CRYSTAL PALACE BURNLEY

By gloves. He said: “We’re not looking to extract confidence. It’s more about hyping them up and saying: ‘Lads, I know how it feels. I’ve been there before as a manager, coach, player’. “Strangely that can be a good thing, when you’re written off. That can sometimes make you bounce back.” The only two home goals Palace had scored before this were penalties but they shrugged off their own eight-game winless streak to climb to 14th. McArthur said: “We were outstanding, from the first whistle we were on it. On another day it could have been six. Getting a draw against United away last time out gave us confidence. We’ve played really well against all the big teams really.” Hennessey 6; Wan-Bissaka 6, Tomkins 6, Sakho 6, Van Aanholt 6; McArthur 7 (Schlupp 78), Kouyate 5, Milivojevic 6, Meyer 6 (Puncheon 90); Zaha 8, Townsend 7 (Sorloth 88). Meyer. McArthur 16, Townsend 77. Brighton (a), tom PL.

Hart 7; Lowton 6, Mee 6, Long 5, Taylor 6; Lennon 4 (Brady 46, 6), Defour 5 (Vokes 60, 5), Cork 5, Hendrick 5, Gudmundsson 5; Wood 5 (Barnes 80). Mee. Liverpool (h), tomorrow PL.

L Probert (Wiltshire).

PALACE (4-4-2): Booked:

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