Match-Winner Wood Shares The Love

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Striker hails defence after his goal sees off Palace and gets the Clarets climbing

2020-11-23T18:00:00.000Z

Match-Winner Wood Shares The Love

Striker hails defence after his goal sees off Palace and gets the Clarets climbing

2020-11-23T18:00:00.000Z

Chris Wood ended the Clarets’ goal drought but was quick to share the praise with his team-mates at the other end as Burnley moved out of the bottom three.

Wood’s eighth-minute strike was the Clarets’ first goal at Turf Moor this season and enough to secure a first win of the campaign thanks to a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

The frontman doubled his season’s tally with an assured finish from Jay Rodriguez’s flick-on just as Burnley’s wait for a goal anywhere was approaching 400 minutes.

Not for the first time Wood therefore took the mantle of match-winner but a priceless three points was also down to a second successive clean sheet as Burnley’s back line again stood firm.

“Every goal is very nice so it’s nice to be on the board tonight, but it’s even more important to get three points again,” said Wood.

“It’s been a bit of time coming but it was nice to get off the mark in that sense as a group and the defence has done well to see out the game really well. It was a fantastic performance from them.

“We’ve been working hard trying to put it right and thankfully tonight we did.

“It’s a big one. It’s one we’ve been waiting a while for, but we knew it was coming because the performances have started adding up, so it was nice to actually get it over the line.

“The last few games are starting to show what we’re truly about. The first three or four games weren’t us and it’s nice to show the work we’re doing is coming to the fore and getting us what we deserve, I think.

"We played well and nullified them when they had the chance.”

The Clarets could have earned themselves some breathing space in the second half but Johann Berg Gudmundsson was unable to mark his 100th Premier League performance with a goal.

The winger, back on starting duty alongside the returning Jay Rodriguez, fired against the bar from an excellent opportunity to keep the advantage at a single goal.

And the Clarets needed a magnificent performance from goalkeeper Nick Pope to safeguard the result as he followed up an excellent stop from Michy Batshuayi with a breath-taking close-range save from Christian Benteke minutes from the end.

“We know how good he is,” added Wood.

“He’s an England international and in my opinion up there pushing Jordan Pickford all the way for that number-one spot.

“He shows every week he should be there. He’s a great keeper and I think the defence was fantastic in front of him.

“That’s what he’s about. We’re very lucky to have him. We take him for granted at times because he does that week-in, week-out and he definitely saved us there.”