Keith off to a flier

KEITH Treacy witnessed Burnley’s fighting spirit at close quarters twice last season with Preston.

But the boot was on the other foot on his Clarets debut as he inspired a point-winning comeback against Watford.

Last season Burnley came from 3-1 down - with a Treacy goal making it 2-1 - to win 4-3 at Turf Moor, and at Deepdale the Clarets went behind before winning 2-1.

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The Republic of Ireland wideman scored the equaliser against Watford, having had a hand in the first, which ricocheted in off Charlie Austin, after the Hornets moved into a 2-0 lead against the run of play.

And he looked back on an impressive cameo: “I just wanted to get on and show people what I can do and try to get used to the Turf and get used to the crowd.

“Thankfully I managed to get off to a good start and hopefully I can build on that from now on.

“I’m happy with my individual performance and getting off to a good start, but as the season progressing I think we need to be beating teams like that if we want to be challenging.

“We would have taken it with 20 minutes to go though.”

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Watford were typically dogged, but Treacy was disappointed to go 2-0 down before clawing a way back into the game: “At kick-off we were expecting to be really fighting against them. We knew what they were going to bring but we didn’t handle it as well as we should have.

“With 20 minutes to go and 2-0 down it shows that we have the character there to fight, for such a young team, which is what we’re going to need in this league.

“There are positives there.

“Burnley are one of those teams that keep going and going and grinding it out.

“We showed great character to draw 2-2 and were maybe unlucky not to nick it.

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“But it’s a long hard season so I wouldn’t read too much into it yet.”

Treacy has had some stick in some quarters for some comments about former club Blackburn, saying: “I never had a chance at Blackburn. The managers changed so quickly I never got my foot in the door.

“I want to get Burnley back to the Premier League, play against Blackburn and ram it back down their throats.

“I have a bit of vengeance in mind for Blackburn. I am at the right club for it anyway!”

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But he smiled: “People are always going to criticise me no matter what I do.

“It’s one of those things with being a footballer. I don’t really listen to them and try to keep my face off twitter as much as I can!”

Treacy linked up with the Republic of Ireland after the game as they face Croatia on Wednesday night - ruling him out of the Carling Cup tie with Burton, and he said: “Just as I’m settling in I’m on my way to Dublin.

“I’m looking forward to the Irish game on Wednesday. Hopefully we can get a win on Tuesday before then.

“It would have been nice (to stay) but I think Giovanni (Trappatoni) wants me over there.

“It is what it is. Hopefully I get a couple of minutes against Croatia.”