It’s Danny at the double as Clarets climb off bottom of table
THIS was a tale of two young talents, Danny Ings of Burnley via Dorset and Bojan Krkic of Stoke via Barcelona. Both cost their clubs somewhere between £1m and £2m. Both shone yesterday. Ings alone went home happy.
The former Bournemouth forward scored the two early goals that gave Burnley their second straight win in the Premier League and their first away win in the top division since April 2010. And Bojan, as he is more routinely known, gave the home supporters something to take away from a disappointing result – entertainment and hope of better things.
The last time Burnley won away in the top division, in their last one-year stay, the hosts were Hull, the score was 4-1 and the victory nowhere near enough to keep the Clarets in the elite division.
This triumph, in which Stoke briefly threatened a comeback with a goal from Jon Walters, lifts Burnley off the foot of the table and within sight of safety.
‘We scored two very good goals, high quality goals on the break in the first 15 minutes,’ said Burnley’s manager Sean Dyche. ‘Then Stoke came at us in waves — they never stopped coming at us. But we had the will, desire, respect, honesty and team ethic — all the qualities I think are the marks of a good team.’
On winning two matches on the bounce now, and the belief that it gives in a shot at survival, Dyche added: ‘Everyone tells me that back-to-back wins in the Premier League are massive and I’ll accept that. Survival has been deemed impossible and our job is to make it possible.’
Stoke’s Mark Hughes said: ‘Unfortunately we lost the game in the first 10 or 15 minutes when we didn’t get a grip on what the opposition would do to us. You need to be rock solid in that period.’
Dyche made just one enforced change to the starting XI who sealed the first win of the season last time out, against Hull.
Scott Arfield, injured in training, was replaced by former Stoke winger Michael Kightly, who made the most of his chance.
Burnley started brightly, careering
forward early, albeit without much bite for the first 10 minutes. Then they scored twice in two.
For the opener, Ashley Barnes took possession out on the left from Dean Marney and slipped in a low ball. Stoke’s goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, under pressure from Kightly, pushed it into the path of Ings and the 22-yearold forward tapped in.
The visiting fans, packed behind the goal where the ball nestled, erupted in delight – and less than a minute later they were doing it again.
Kightly was the provider the final ball again coming in from the left, and this time going straight to Ings at the back post, who converted another opportunity on a plate.
Bojan, 24, once rated as a £30m ‘next Messi’ at Barcelona was eyecatching with his flicks and tricks. It was the Spaniard’s cross that dropped to Walters, who powered home with a diving header.