Heaton hails Burnley’s togetherness

They go into the international break top of the Championship after their best start to a league season since 1961.

And Heaton feels the togetherness fostered in pres-season has been pivotal.

Speaking after the 2-1 win at home to Reading on Saturday, he said: “Everyone is pulling in the right direction.

“We didn’t have as much play in the second half, we got ourselves in a good position, but we still had a lot of chances.

“The whole place, the fans especially, there was a massive lift from them in the last five or 10 minutes with the noise coming out of the place, and it just lifts everyone and you sort of felt we were always going to hold on and it’s a great trait to have in a side and we’ve certainly got it.”

The fans have also bought into what the players and manager are trying to achieve, and he added: “I think that (relationship with the fans) boils down to the players giving everything.

“Whether you are winning, losing or drawing you want to see the players playing for the shirt as they say, and I think in every game this season, every player that has come into the side, whether they have started the game or come off the bench, they’ve done that.

“And when you’ve got 11 players giving everything they’ve got, you know you’re going to give yourself a great chance in every game we play in, and as long as we can keep doing that, we will back ourselves against everyone.

“From the moment I walked through the door with the structure, the system and the ideas that the staff and the manager especially have put in there was a good feel about it, in every pre-season game and in the training we really put the work in. We had everyone giving everything.”