Sean Dyche was full of praise for his entire Burnley squad, particularly Sam Vokes and Ashley Barnes after the former scored the winner against Southampton after coming off the bench.
Substitutes "a credit to their profession"
Vokes and Barnes came off the bench on 65 minutes and Dyche explained, “I thought those two lads were a credit to their profession. I marvel at this group, especially those who aren’t playing week-in and week-out and they came on and really affected the game.”
He added, “we had to be diligent and work hard in the first half and looked to counter and today, the depth in the squad was evident."
Dyche also explained how Vokes and Barnes turned the game "in our favour" after replacing Chris Wood and Jeff Hendrick. He explained, "the two lads who came on up top were absolutely terrific and they changed the whole feel of the game."
"It's right up there with some of the best headers I've seen"
The Burnley manager was particularly impressed by Vokes' header that won the game on 81 minutes. “Sam’s header is sublime. What a header that is. It’s right up there with some of the best headers I’ve seen."
Vokes headed his downward effort past Fraser Forster after a pinpoint cross by Johann Berg Gudmundsson. Dyche added, "he is jumping away from goal and gets tremendous power to find the corner and it was worthy of winning any game. To find the net and beat a keeper of that standard, from a fantastic cross, it’s a fantastic finish and that caps off a fine display.”
Yet Dyche believes there is still room for improvement with his side going forward. “We know where we are at and we still need more quality when we are going forward but we are willing to do the graft and we do that very well."
Dyche is also aware that there are "a lot more challenges coming our way and there’s a belief in this group that we’ll have to work hard for everything we get.”