The verdict: It wasn't pretty - but Sean Dyche's 50th Premier League win typifies the Clarets under his reign

Sean Dyche's 50th Premier League win as Burnley boss was almost a perfect representation of his time in charge of the club. Certainly at this level, anyway.
Substitute Jay Rodriguez scores an 89th minute winner for Burnley against AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality StadiumSubstitute Jay Rodriguez scores an 89th minute winner for Burnley against AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium
Substitute Jay Rodriguez scores an 89th minute winner for Burnley against AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium

The 48-year-old brought up the milestone with a 1-0 victory over the man he succeeded at Turf Moor in 2012, Eddie Howe.

From the first - a narrow victory over Hull City - to the last, the majority of the Clarets' successes in the top flight have included one key ingredient. Finding a way to tip tight margins in their favour.

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Dyche's side have now won by that same scoreline 19 times, accounting for 38 percent of Burnley's wins in the Premier League, with 32 of those 50 victories coming with clean sheets.

It hasn't always been straight-forward, it hasn't always been pretty, but in the heat of battle, when questions have been asked, they've found a way.

"I think that was my 50th win in the Premier League, somebody was telling me, which is pleasing," said Dyche.

"It doesn't sound a lot, but it's tough. You must have enough games in you to reach 50 so I'm pleased with that.

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"I am certainly pleased with the result but we can certainly perform better. It was a very hard game in that the conditions were awful and the game wasn't much better.

"But we have come out the right side of it and that is a really pleasing thing. It is pleasing in the sense that we have found a way because we have had to do that before and we will have to do it again."

Neither side had registered a shot on target at the Vitality Stadium until substitute Jay Rodriguez broke the deadlock when planting a header past AFC Bournemouth goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the 89th minute.

It was the longest wait for a shot on target in the Premier League since a game between Bolton Wanderers and Sunderland in 2009 while the total of five shots produced in the game is the lowest tally of attempts since 2003/04.

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But Dyche doesn't care how or when they come. The Clarets, who won for a third time in succession against the Cherries on the south coast, will go in to Christmas in the top 10 and nine points clear of the bottom three.

He said: "From a manager's point of view, forget about entertainment, it's the idea of what the fundamentals are of a team, what it is to defend properly and stop the opposition.

"I thought we did that ever so well and then found a moment. That's sometimes the way it is.

"The strange thing is, we all remember it when we analyse it but at the end of the season nobody cares. Trust me. They only care about how many points you've got."

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It was only a fifth away win for the Clarets this calendar year, and only a third clean sheet on their travels this calendar year.

However, it was a seventh in 18 games this season, the most in the division alongside Leicester City and Sheffield United.

And it was the second time in succession that they'd prevented their opponents from having a single shot on target.

"It's a rarity that you keep teams from having a shot on target and when you keep two back-to-back that's certainly even more rare," Dyche said.

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"I'm really pleased with that side of it. I thought Popey handled the deeper crosses coming in later on in the game and those going straight down his throat.

"I thought he handled that very well, as did the defenders. I'm very pleased for him and the team, they worked very hard as a group."

In a game severely lacking in any real moments of quality, Jefferson Lerma failed to threaten Nick Pope's goal with attempts in either half while Chris Mepham's header from Ryan Fraser's cross travelled the wrong side of the upright.

A goalless stalemate appeared to be the most likely outcome, but Rodriguez, who had replaced Ashley Barnes with quarter-of-an-hour remaining, had other ideas.

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The striker, who made 64 appearances under Howe at Burnley, leapt above Jack Stacey and Simon Francis to convert Ashley Westwood's delivery.

"You have to find a way and we did," said Dyche. "It was fading away to an ugly game and a 0-0 draw which happens and then we nick it out of a moment of quality that we found when we weren't really finding it.

"In the first half I didn't think there was much in it but in the second half they had the better feel of the game but I can't really remember them opening us up too much.

"There were a couple of flashes across the box and a couple of crosses but not much. It was an odd game, lots of niggly things and low level fouls for me, things I didn't think had much in it - for both sides.

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"Credit to them for bringing the game on in the second half but we found a way to get an ugly win and they are as valuable as anything in this division.

"I thought we were better against Newcastle but from a manager's point of view, forgetting about entertainment, what are the fundamentals of a team?

"One is defending properly and stopping the opposition and I thought we did that very well. And two is to find a moment and we did and that is sometimes the way it is."