The importance of Burnley‘s 2-1 win over Norwich City was not lost on head coach Scott Parker as the Clarets moved back to the top of the Championship.
With Leeds United and Sheffield United both playing on Saturday, Friday night’s clash with the Canaries offered Burnley an opportunity to lay down the gauntlet to their title rivals. A 2-1 victory over Coventry City earlier this month had seen Parker’s side move to the summit, but their lead lasted just three days after they failed to beat Derby County on Tuesday night.
With Leeds recording a narrow win over Middlesbrough, the Whites jumped from third to first on goal difference. Burnley knew at least a point would see them replace Daniel Farke’s team – albeit temporarily at least – although more importantly, a win would see them move five points clear of Sheffield United in third.
The Lancashire-based side needed just 14 minutes to break the deadlock through Hannibal Mejbri’s cool finish, and they doubled their advantage 10 minutes later courtesy of a deflected Jaidon Anthony effort. Norwich set up a nervy ending when Jack Stacey found the net 14 minutes from time, but Parker’s side held firm to pick up the three points.
Parker Hails Important Win
Burnley are closing in on automatic promotion, with attention beginning to shift to their important clash against Sheffield United later this month. A trip to Watford comes before that though, with the promotion chasers now having over a week to prepare.
Speaking after the game, Parker admitted that last night’s victory was an important one:
“It’s always important. It’s not important for other teams, it’s just important for us really.
“I’ve said it to you for such a long time that every game, the way we’ve gone about this year in everything I’ve delivered to this group, is one game at a time.
“It’s very cliche, but you just never, ever get involved in the emotion of what this division can bring and at this part of the season, certainly what it can bring as well.
“The people that get involved in the emotion of it, nine times out of ten, my experiences tell me that they normally fail.
“We’ve been rock-solid in terms of our focus, we’ve been rock-solid in our commitment to what we need to do.
“We’ll enjoy tonight and the lads deserve that after a really busy week and it gives us a full week now to prep for Watford.”
Writer’s View
The simple fact of the matter is that if Burnley keep winning, they’ll be back in the Premier League next season. They started excellently last night but took their foot off the pedal to allow Norwich back into the game, something they may not be able to do when they meet Sheffield United later this month. Attention now shifts to how the two other title challengers react in today’s lunchtime kick offs.
