Burnley claim first Premier League win of the season with fine victory over Brentford

Burnley 3-1 Brentford: Maxwel Cornet among scorers again as Clarets finally claim victory

Phil Medlicott
Saturday 30 October 2021 17:12 BST
Sean Dyche’s Burnley saw off Brentford with relative ease (Nigel French/PA)
Sean Dyche’s Burnley saw off Brentford with relative ease (Nigel French/PA) (PA Wire)

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Burnley registered their first win of the Premier League season as they beat Brentford 3-1 at Turf Moor on the day Sean Dyche reached nine years as Clarets boss.

The hosts netted three times without reply in the first half, with Chris Wood lashing the opener past Premier League debutant Alvaro Fernandez in the fourth minute.

Matt Lowton added a header in the 32nd and Maxwel Cornet then struck to make it 3-0 four minutes later.

Brentford substitute Saman Ghoddos pulled a goal back with 11 minutes of normal time remaining, but the visitors were unable to spoil Dyche’s anniversary as his side took maximum points for the first time in 10 league outings this season, and 13 including the end of last term.

It saw Burnley move out of the relegation zone, up a place to 17th, while Thomas Frank’s Bees remain 12th after their third successive league defeat.

Burnley grabbed the lead early when Lowton lofted the ball forward on the right and Ethan Pinnock tried to intercept but could not prevent it running to Wood, who cracked a shot beyond Fernandez.

The hosts continued to push, with Wood causing further problems for Brentford and penalty appeals being waved away by referee Jon Moss after Ashley Westwood went down in the box.

And Burnley then had the ball in the net again on the quarter-hour mark, Cornet finishing having been teed up by Wood, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside via a VAR check.

An encouraging spell for Brentford followed, in which Ivan Toney brought a good save out of Nick Pope.

But soon after, it was Fernandez doing well to thwart Johann Berg Gudmundsson one-on-one, and moments later Burnley did double their advantage as Lowton rose to head in Charlie Taylor’s cross.

Clarets fans had barely finished celebrating that when Dyche’s men scored again as Cornet, in delightful fashion, notched his fourth goal in five league appearances since joining the club, bringing down a pass from Dwight McNeil and then smashing the ball past Fernandez from the edge of the box.

It could have got even worse for Brentford before the interval, with Wood seeing one shot deflected behind and sending another just over.

Wood then put a header wide shortly after the break, before Pope dived to push away a Christian Norgaard shot.

Lowton and McNeil made unsuccessful attempts with strikes around the hour mark, and Norgaard and Toney were subsequently off-target with efforts at the other end.

After McNeil sent a free-kick wide of the near post, Brentford then reduced the deficit via a superb volley from Ghoddos, but they could not make things any more nervy for Burnley in the closing stages.

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