Sean Dyche pleased with professional Burnley performance in cup cruise

Sean Dyche was pleased with a "professional" performance as Burnley eased past Peterborough United into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Sean DycheSean Dyche
Sean Dyche

Burnley raced into a three-goal lead inside the opening quarter of the game, with goals from Jay Rodriguez, Erik Pieters and Jeff Hendrick, and though the Posh pulled one back through Ivan Toney, Rodriguez added a second after the break.

Substitute Ricky Jade-Jones gave Peterborough a glimmer of hope, but the Clarets were convincing winners.

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And Dyche said, after a run of three Premier League defeats: "It wasn't badly needed, every win is needed, no more than any other, it was a good performance, very professional.

"I thought we put out a strong side, which we tend to do, but it hasn't always worked, we haven't always performed.

"But we spoke in the week about the mentality going into the game, and it was on show, it was excellent, with some very good performances in a tricky tie.

"They are a good side, they've had a tough Christmas themselves, but they've been going well, they are a threat going forward, as they showed at varying times, but we dealt with a lot of it, and they earned two goals out of possible mistakes from us.

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"But overall I thought it was a very professional and confident performance."

Burnley started well, effectively winning the tie inside 25 minutes: "There was a real good feel about the performance from the off, good organisation, discipline and good use of the ball. We played in good pockets - in their system, you get a bit more time to do that, in a diamond, the pockets opened up a bit more simply than it would in the Premier League.

"But we used it wisely, Aaron Lennon was excellent, the general feel of the game, the main thing we spoke about was being deliberate with the ball, and we were.

"We passed it quickly and effectively, and moved off the ball very well, and carried that on through a lot of the game, and won it properly in the end."

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Rodriguez took his tally to six goals for the season, and a number of players laid down markers: "I hope they always do (give me food for thought), there were eight changes but I think that's a strong side, I felt for Joe (Hart), I thought he was excellent in everything he had to do, and ends up picking the ball out of his net twice, which is hard on him.

"Tarky was excellent, loads of good performances, Charlie when he came on, Erik did well - that's what you want, players to be ready and perform, because that constantly puts doubt in your mind, and you want that.

"There was a real, confident feel to the performance so I was pleased with that.

"Two for Jay, he looked sharp, he pounced on his chances so he was nice and alive, good finish for the second after great play from Azza, but there were good signs.

"We know we have tough games, not just the next four, beyond that. The Premier League is unforgiving, we know that."