Duff delighted with Clarets’ resilience

Two defeats from 20 league games tells it’s own story.
Commanding form: Michael Duff rises above Liam Moore at Leicester on SaturdayCommanding form: Michael Duff rises above Liam Moore at Leicester on Saturday
Commanding form: Michael Duff rises above Liam Moore at Leicester on Saturday

Especially when you consider Burnley were harshly reduced to 10 men in both those rare setbacks at Brighton and Huddersfield.

So it goes without saying that Sean Dyche has made the Clarets hard to beat.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Even when not at their best, they have kept their defensive discipline and shape, dug in and scrapped for points, notably when under stern examination at Nottingham Forest last month, and Leicester on Saturday.

So much so, goalkeeper Tom Heaton has rarely been called upon, and when he has, he has stood up to the task.

Stalwart Michael Duff, in his 10th season with the club, is not making any promises about what lies in store for the side, second in the Championship going into tomorrow’s derby with Blackpool at Turf Moor, but what he will guarantee is that every team Burnley face will know they have been in a game.

Duff said: “I don’t think we’re making statements, we just believe we’re not a bad team.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’re not going to go shouting from the hilltops where we finish like that or anything like that.

“We go into every game knowing that we’ll give most teams a good game on any given day, whether we play well or we don’t.

“We’re in good shape and we work hard.”

The former Northern Ireland international said: “You can’t always play well because there’s another 11 players out there not letting you.

“We work on the shape of the team, we don’t give up.

“The goalkeeper’s not having to make save after save after save so he’s not kept us in the game.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The size of Burnley’s squad is something pundits feel could handicap the Clarets as the season goes on, but Duff said: “A lot’s been made of the squad and things, but we just prepare for every game and we’ll give most teams a good game every week, and that’s all we’re looking to do.

“We’ve lost two games all season which tells you something, and in the two we’ve lost we’ve had men wrongly sent off and had decisions go against us.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to deal with it, but we keep ourselves in games, which is very important.”