Dyche happy to get monkey off Burnley's back

Second half goals from Ashley Barnes and substitute Chris Wood overturned Everton’s half-time lead, courtesy of Cenk Tosun’s first goal for the Toffees.

It was also the first time since the final game of the 2009/10 season against Spurs that the Clarets had come from going behind to win in the Premier League.

And Dyche said: “Facts are facts, it’s been a tough run and I don’t think it’s been totally deserved that we haven’t won, last week was taken away from us for other reasons, and I think the mental resilience to go and perform like that was really pleasing.

“It takes the monkey off everyone’s back, because it makes a story, but hopefully the freedom comes back a little, let’s get back to what we were doing, playing well, trying to perform and win games.”

It was the first time in 54 games at this level Burnley had won after going behind, after a 4-2 success against Spurs under Brian Laws, and Dyche added: “First time, I said that at half-time, I said ‘look, you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain, no one thinks you can come back from being a goal down, because you haven’t historically.

“I just opened it up and said, ‘just get your shoulders back and go out and play’, take it on, and we did.

“It was a really good performance, and only one lose in five now, that’s how quickly it turns round.”

He felt the win was thoroughly merited: “I think overall it was deserved. We’d given a, certainly, at least, a reasonable performance first half, and I was very pleased with the mentality of the players when they scored, because I don’t think we went under, maybe a couple of minutes soft, but then got back on it.

“We created chances and looked like we were creating problems.

“And then we made a tactical shift at half-time that had a good effect as well.

“I thought we took on the second half with real energy and purpose and belief in what we do, and I was really pleased with that.

“That can be tricky. It sounds really easy, but you’re 1-0 down and on a tough run, and it can be tricky to regain that winning feeling and momentum, but I felt that was on show second half.

“The energy, the belief in how we were playing and working was clearly on show, and it felt like a winning performance, which it ended up being.”

Wood came on for Jeff Hendrick at the break and going with two up front made a difference: “Sometimes it’s tough with tactical decisions, I didn’t want to wait for it to happen, and sometimes it’s hard for players. If you come on at half-time it’s like a fresh start, but during a game sometimes it’s more tricky to get into.

“It was just purely tactical, I thought we could affect them more with two up front, particularly as after they scored they went more into sort of a counter attacking style, so there wasn’t as much space in front of the two centre halves, which you have to get into, the pockets.

“I thought it worked well, Woody and Barnesy were a real handful, culminating in both of them scoring.

“And Matt Lowton’s pass is absolutely fantastic. What a ball that is, up there with the best passes I’ve seen in a long time.

“You always look at it the other way, I’ve said you can often stop every goal, you always pick it to bits, but equally, some times you have to hold your hands up as a manager, and say that’s one you’ve got to write off.

“I think that’s just a fantastic pass, great movement from Barnesy to open up his shoulders between the centre halves, and a good finish.”

The win took Burnley to 40 points, with nine games remaining - level with their best return in the Premier League, achieved last season: “Forget talk of what it needs, it’s a big marker to get to 40 points with nine games to go. That’s not an easy thing to do.

“It took us a whole season last year.

“I’ve spoken about signs of improvement and developing and moving forward and that has to be a sign.

“You have to take that as a really strong marker, to get to 40 points now and still with football to play.”

So can Burnley push on in the race for a Europa League spot?: “The next game is a goal, to build on that. I think we built on Southampton, which was solid, but that was a better performance, solid, plus moments of quality, energy, drive and that got us a nice win.”