Heaton points to togetherness for Burnley survival

Skipper Tom Heaton has credited the Burnley squad’s togetherness for enabling them to avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.

The Clarets struggled away from home early in the season but under the guidance of Sean Dyche, managed to secure survival weeks before the final game of the campaign.

Heaton picked out their 4-0 defeat to West Brom back in November as a key moment in the season, despite it being Burnley’s worst result of the campaign.

“One moment sticks out for me – half-time away at West Brom,” he said. “We were 3-0 down and we had a moment before the manager said his piece, which was pretty strong.

“It was: ‘whatever happens from here on in, we stick together’.

“They are the sort of moments where, as a team, you have to stick together. You can’t start pointing the finger, you can’t start chucking the towel in, and it’s tough.

 (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

“Things aren’t going your way, and they’re probably not going to go your way, but it’s important that we really had that togetherness.

“I thought that was a pivotal moment in the season.

“All right, we got beaten on the night. You hold your hands up and we weren’t great, but I think we really did stick together in that second half.

“It’s important and it’s very difficult, at times, to do that in team sports, certainly in my experience.”