Tarkowski strikes to turn tide for Burnley

James Tarkowski’s personal pain is over, and perhaps Burnley’s is coming to an end too. Certainly, the England centre-back’s return to full fitness has come at a crucial time for Sean Dyche.

Tarkowski has had two hernia operations in the past six months, playing for nearly a year with the problem.

He can now set about sorting out Burnley’s defence, which has been unusually generous for much of the season. He is a handy goalscorer too.

In his second start after returning from surgery, Tarkowski did not seem to know much about the goal that beat Brighton, deflecting in a Jack Cork shot with his chest from around six yards.

But he made an equally valuable contribution at the back, with a late intervention to divert away Leon Balogun’s header as Brighton pushed for a late equaliser.

On a squally December day in east Lancashire, this was an afternoon for scrapping out a victory by whatever means necessary.

Burnley were not pretty but got the job done, ending an eight-match winless run with a clean sheet in the league for only the fourth time this season. “We’ve ground one out today,” manager Dyche admitted. “We are kind of getting back to where we should be. We’ve played better than we did today, but the basics were done well. Those features are coming back, and that is a base to work on.”

As important to the win as Tarkowski was a fine late save from Joe Hart to keep out a Glenn Murray header. Burnley were also lucky that Brighton’s £15 million striker, Jurgen Locadia, headed over a glorious chance from Murray’s cross in the final 10 minutes.

“I thought we were the better team,” Brighton manager Chris Hughton said. “We had the best chance of the game.”

It would be tempting to say this was a typical Burnley victory, but it was the first time they had won a Premier League match 1-0 in just short of 12 months. The last time they did so, against Stoke City last December, they rose briefly into the top four. This win lifted them out of the bottom three.

There is much work still to be done to drag them clear of trouble, and it is unlikely to be a quick job, given that their next two matches are away to Tottenham and Arsenal. Still, it is a start.