Hendrick makes the difference as Burnley squeeze past Newcastle

Burnley manager Sean Dyche didn’t exactly celebrate his five years in charge at Turf Moor in style last night – this game was a bit of a grind – but he did watchhisteamcollectacrucial three points courtesy of a narrow win over Newcastle.

No one was expecting a goal fest between two teams who have struggled to score for much of the season and so it turned out. Republic of Ireland international Jeff Hendrick eventually made the difference, the midfielder scoring in the second half.

The result was a significant one for Dyche, who has been in the headlines recently for being linked with the vacant post at Everton, and the win moved his side up to an impressive seventh place in the Premier League table – level on points with Liverpool.

For Rafael Benitez’s side, it was another disappointing outcome away from home. They now sit ninth in the standings, a couple of points behind last night’s opponents.

The breakthrough finally came around 15 minutes from time. Newcastle squandered possession cheaply and the ball was worked through to Jack Cork. His shot was saved but the ball came back out to Johann Gudmundsson and he sent an inviting cross to the back post. Hendrick kept his cool, controlled the ball on his thigh and fired it into the roof of Rob Elliot’s net.

Newcastle pushed for an equaliser as the clock ticked down but never really looked likely to score against a team who have conceded only nine goals in their past ten games.

“Yeah,” said goalscorer Hendrick when asked afterwards if he’d been expecting a close game. “Watching the clips on Newcastle they’ve been tight and hard to break down, but we kept working hard and got the goal in the end.

“Sean Dyche has us working hard every week and the bare minimum is to give your lot.”