Boyd surprised to win Player of Year accolade

The 29-year-old thought he was in the running for Goal of the Season for his volley against Manchester City – which won the vote on the night on Tuesday.

But he wasn’t expecting to come away with five top awards from the supporters’ clubs, beating closest rival Tom Heaton, who finished with three.

Asked if it came as a surprise, Boyd smiled: “It did!

“It was lovely, especially from the supporters who come to every game.

“It’s a great honour.

“There have been a lot of good performances this season with Heats (Heaton) and Barnesy (Barnes) especially, and Tripps (Kieran Trippier) who didn’t get anything on the night, Ingsy...

“There are lots of players who have done well this season.

“I thought I might get the goal but I didn’t realise I’d get that many player of the years because there are so many other players who did well this year.”

His goal against City in March beat Ashley Barnes’ thumper at Spurs in December, with Danny Ings’ diving header against Manchester United at Old Trafford third.

Boyd described it at the time as the most important goal of his career – and the best, and he said: “I think it was. When you catch them that sweetly you know straight away it’s going to go in.

“It was a nice goal and an even bigger win.

“It was the first win over City for quite a few years so that was even more important.”

Burnley round off their season on Sunday at FA Cup finalists Aston Villa.

And, despite relegation being confirmed a fortnight ago, Boyd knows manager Sean Dyche won’t accept anything less than maximum effort at Villa Park against Tim Sherwood’s side: “We just want to go out and enjoy it.

“We’ve played well in the last few games so we just want to finish on a high with as many points as we can.

“I don’t expect Villa to start the team that will play in the final, or at least play the full game.

“We’ve just got to take advantage of it and get the win.

“We need that momentum to take into next season.

“The gaffer doesn’t want any of us resting up, he wants us going hard and that’s what we’ve done all season so we won’t stop now.”