Nicky Hayen’s verdict on Burnley’s ‘painful’ late defeat to Bristol City

Nicky Hayen questioned his Burnley side’s mentality following their “painful” late defeat to Bristol City.

The Clarets threw away the lead, given to them by Aaron Ramsey’s second-half strike, to lose 2-1 at Turf Moor to continue their worrying start to the new season.

Had they held on, it would have been a first win of any kind in 90 minutes since February and a first home league win in 322 days.

But the Robins struck twice during the final 10 minutes to condemn Burnley to a defeat that sees them drop to the bottom of the Championship table.

It also prompted an angry reaction from home supporters, who turned their ire towards the ownership both before and after the final whistle.

“It's very painful and it's also very disappointing,” Hayen said.

“I'm going to be fair, when we were leading 1-0, even if we didn't play a good game, you had the feeling that you could win this game.

“There's something that we also miss a little bit in the team, like being ruthless in that kind of moment.

“It's a long time that we didn't win and now we just give our life, the last 10 minutes, to push this over the top and then having three points.

“But instead that you have even three points, one point, you don't have a point and that's really disappointing.”

The most worrying aspect of the game is how Burnley immediately dropped back and retreated as soon as they edged their noses in front.

Nervousness immediately set in, which only heightened the panic and sense of anxiety among the home fans.

“It's a mentality thing,” Hayen added.

“At that moment, you know if you fall back against a team that also brings a big striker in and they're going to play power play, that you have to stay away from your goal.

“Of course, there's also a mental part because it's not with bad intentions that they will do it, but at a certain moment, you have to keep the pressure on the ball carrier or just around. This is something that we didn't do enough.

“Do you make the effort to keep the ball for the goal? There were moments that when you keep the structure, you do it in the right way, you create things and it's not consistent enough.

“The goal is actually a nice goal, the way how we played. But it's also a lack of confidence at the moment and not only about the confidence, but also a lack of fitness.

“We have a lot of players who didn't play a lot in 18 months, in 15 months and they still need a few weeks to get everyone at their top level.

“Unfortunately in football, it doesn't go like this that you can wait for a few weeks, but this is the situation where we're at.

“Then I completely understand the fans, that they're frustrated and disappointed. Of course, it's not nice to experience this, but I understand and I can accept it and the only thing that we can do is keep on fighting back and showing resilience.”