Cork puts Burnley on route one to Europe
SIX GAMES to go and with a six-point gap between them and eighth place, Burnley had better start making plans for European football next season.
Sean Dyche has been playing it down for months, wary of attention straying beyond the next game, but the truth is Burnley are on the brink of qualifying for the Europa League.
A continental campaign beckons for the first time in over 50 years for this club.
‘We’re all going on a European tour,’ their supporters sang after this gritty win at Watford.
‘They’ve been singing that for ages,’ said Dyche. ‘It started as a joke and now it’s like, hello! It might not be such a joke.
‘It’s my job to remember that you only get measured at the end of the season.’
Provided Southampton do not win the FA Cup, which would make sixth the last Europa League spot, and barring a collapse that would be uncharacteristic of this team, the European adventure is on.
The latest big step came here at Vicarage Road, where goals from Sam Vokes and Jack Cork — separated by just two minutes and 42 seconds — turned around a deficit inflicted by Roberto Pereyra’s opener.
It was a game where Burnley’s mentality shone through, Dyche said. ‘We needed to be good with all the basics, good with doing all the ugly, nitty-gritty things in a game — we do those well.
‘They had spells of being the better side and you also need a scratch of luck.’
Watford were slightly superior for the opening hour but in truth this was looking like a contest between two poor teams before it sparked into life late on.
Will Hughes was the hosts’ best player but was perhaps fortunate to avoid a red card when planting his studs into the shin of Ashley Westwood. Moments later and the former Derby County midfielder was dancing into the Burnley box. James Tarkowski’s challenge stopped Hughes from scoring but only diverted the ball to Pereyra, who charged his right-foot finish under Nick Pope and in.
Dyche knew change was needed and, when his side were awarded a free-kick from deep, threw on Vokes to join Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes in a front line all standing at over 6ft 2in.
Perhaps it spooked Watford. The dead-ball came in and Adrian Mariappa made a mess of it, his poor header only succeeding in finding the unmarked Vokes — just 22 seconds after coming on — to level.
‘I said to [Vokes], if you don’t score in 30 seconds you won’t be playing again,’ Dyche joked. ‘That is some motivation.’
Burnley won another free-kick, this time 18 yards out and on the left. Westwood swung the ball in for Kevin Long to head back across goal and into the path of Cork who rose to power it in. Goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis got a hand to it, but it was already over the line.
‘We dominated the game, we had more shots, more shots on target but it wasn’t enough,’ said Watford boss Javi Gracia.
‘We should have killed the game and then in three minutes we have conceded two goals from two free-kicks again. We have to improve these defensive actions because we are losing many, many points this way.
As news of Leicester’s loss filtered through to the away end, those songs about Europe got even louder.
Burnley in Europe might have started as a joke, but nobody is laughing at them now.