Scott Parker hails Burnley’s cool heads as promotion nears

Burnley boss Scott Parker praised his side’s defiance and cool heads as they moved to within one victory of an immediate return to the Premier League with a raucous 2-1 win over nine-man Watford at Vicarage Road.

Within an extraordinary 11 minutes midway through the second half, Josh Brownhill scored what proved to be the winning goal before Watford pair Moussa Sissoko and Edo Kayembe were both sent off for collecting a pair of yellow cards.

Parker said: “Throughout this year we wouldn’t be where we are without the mentality we showed again today. The mindset is engrained and they react constantly to adversity.

“There’s quality there, of course there is, but they just find a way to get the result every time and it’s the mentality that can get you to that point. It was brilliant today.

“I’m immensely proud of this group and what we have done this year. We are very close now, but we won’t change our approach for Monday’s game.

“It will be a massive game on Monday against a very good side but we’ll be raring to go. On Monday night we can get this done. Hopefully we can go and get the result.

“The game unravelled after we scored a very good goal to make it 2-1. It just unfolded and became very physical.

“At that moment it was about cool heads, standing up to the physicality, but never crossing that line and seeing the game out.

“The stadium became alight and with the emotion of the game as it is inside the stadium, players are human beings and can get sucked into things.

“I thought we were streetwise and managed it with such a young squad. And how we took the game away from Watford.

“We just told the players to be as stable and calm as they could in that moment.”

Watford manager Tom Cleverley acknowledged that Burnley’s nous and experience had turned the game, particularly with the dismissals of Sissoko and Kayembe.

Cleverley said: “The game got a little bit out of hand. We’ve got to look at ourselves for that. In the second half, we were the bull and they were the matador. We need to be more streetwise. That’s a word I’ve been using a lot recently

“I didn’t think it would be Moussa and Edo making those mistakes. Moussa was provoked a little bit and he took the bait. He got a small push from (Zian) Flemming and he reacted with a bigger push.

“We’ll have to learn from that but Moussa knows it himself. It’s not the example that he has set all season and he has just spoken to the players there in the dressing room.

“I can’t defend that red card and if Moussa was sat here, neither would he.

“Edo is an aggressive player and he loves a tackle. As a player I had two red cards in my career and I learned a lot from them on the impact it can have on your team.

“For sure we need to look at ourselves and how we ended up with nine men and we can’t point too many fingers at the referee today.”