O'SHEA PRAISES PARKER FOLLOWING HATTERS WIN

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Sky Bet Championship Player of the Match winner reflects on opening game victory

2024-08-14T08:30:00.000Z

O'SHEA PRAISES PARKER FOLLOWING HATTERS WIN

Sky Bet Championship Player of the Match winner reflects on opening game victory

2024-08-14T08:30:00.000Z

Sky Bet Championship Player of the Match winner reflects on opening game victory

Dara O'Shea was pleased he and the team could send the Clarets fans back up north from Bedfordshire with smiles on their faces following Monday's win over Luton Town.

Speaking after the game the defender who restored Burnley's two-goal lead on the night said it was an amazing victory and spoke highly of new Head Coach Scott Parker

“It's definitely a nice feeling. We didn’t have much of that last season, so we’ve got to bottle this up and remember what it feels like to be that winning team. The scoreline is obviously amazing for us, would have liked to keep the clean sheet. But I think to come away from home, first game of the season against a strong Luton side, it’s a great win for us.”

It was a tough opening fixture for the Lancashire side at a stadium the Republic of Ireland international described as not an easy place to come to.

“We’ve been working towards this game since we stepped back in the building and it’s been the first thing on our minds. The opening game of the season and what a place to come, this amazing stadium, lots of character here, it’s not an easy place to come. But it shows the character that we have in the group to come today, put our foot down and put the performance in.”

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A brilliant header from a Lucas Pires corner saw O'Shea restore an important two-goal lead in the second half, right in front of the travelling away fans.

“I loved it! I love scoring goals, it’s something that I’ve tried adding to my game. There’s a lot of responsibility on the attacking boys to score the goals but we can chip in too.

“It was an important goal you know, to get that third goal and I’m really happy. The ball in was perfect and it’s not just me that’s obviously scoring the goal, it’s the lads who are making the runs, the unselfish runs, to get me in that position so I’ve got to give credit to all the boys there in the box.”

And the performance secured him the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Match award, so a good night's work?

“Yeah, it’s not bad, it’s not bad! It’s a nice little memento to remember from the game but today was about the team and about how we performed. Switching our mentality back to that winning team, there was a lot of disappointment last season and there’s a lot of trauma in this team from that. So as quickly as we can get ourselves back on that front foot mentality and winning games is going to be massive for us this season.”

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The win is a positive start for new Head Coach Scott Parker, with O'Shea keen to praise the boss on his leadership qualities.

“I’ve really enjoyed the manager. From the first day he’s come in he’s been a massive breath of fresh air. I think as a human being, as a person, he’s a top, top guy and all the lads will say the exact same.

“Motivationally he’s been top-class. Before the game today he almost has you off your seat in the meeting, ready to go. It’s a credit to him and the work he’s put in to get himself into this position in his career. Obviously, all the wealth of knowledge he has, he’s got promoted twice out of this division so there’s no better man to lead us.”

In a relentless Championship league, how important does the 25-year-old think the three points will be to build momentum?

“Tonight wasn’t going to be the be-all and end-all, our season wasn’t going to be determined by what outcome came today. It’s great to get off to that winning start but momentum’s massive, we’ve got to build on this, we’ve got to keep on going, we can’t just be happy and content that we’ve won our first game of the season. There are so many more games to go.

“So, our focus turns to Cardiff now, another tough test. Keep the momentum going and push on.”

1,335 travelling fans made their way to Bedfordshire on the night to cheer on the team and O'Shea was grateful for the fantastic support.

“They were loud today, they really helped us. At this stadium having that noise from them was massive and it was quite nice to be able to celebrate a few of our goals in front of them. I’m sure they enjoyed it, we certainly did! So yes, they can go back up north with a smile on their face. I think they enjoyed themselves.”