Burnley vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Turf MoorAttendance20,933.
Monday 31 December 2018 00:21, UK
First-half goals from Chris Wood and Dwight McNeil gave Burnley a surprise 2-0 win over West Ham at Turf Moor.
Burnley, who had lost six of their last seven league games, dominated the opening 45 minutes and went ahead when Ashley Barnes' flick-on found Wood, whose powerful near-post shot beat Lukasz Fabianski (15).
McNeil then grabbed his first professional goal, sliding in to score at the far post (34) when Ashley Westwood returned Issa Diop's poor clearance into the box.
After half-time, Barnes and Wood both missed marvellous chances to increase Burnley's advantage before Tom Heaton pulled off a stunning late save to deny substitute Andy Carroll, and leave the hosts inside the Premier League relegation zone only on goal difference.
Burnley made it clear they were over their 5-1 hammering by Everton on Boxing Day immediately from kick-off - and inside 90 seconds, Barnes sidefooted a great chance wide of the near post from McNeil's cross.
West Ham were surprisingly sluggish and were deservedly put to the sword by Wood with 15 minutes gone through a brilliant counter-attacking move. Westwood's long ball from midfield was nodded on by Barnes, and with Diop out of position, Wood slipped in to receive the ball and fire in the opener.
Burnley's dominance looked fragile without further goals, but 10 minutes before half-time they added a second courtesy of some calamitous defending.
West Ham failed to clear two crosses in quick succession before a third was scuffed away by Diop to Westwood, who curled it back into the box and McNeil slid in at the far post for his first Burnley goal.
A pair of half-time changes gave the visitors a little more bite in attack, but their defensive woes did not improve, and Barnes was guilty of another big miss when he fired wide moments after the restart.
Barnes went closer when he turned Wood's cross goalwards from close-range but Fabianski dived well to keep his effort out.
The goalkeeper showed quick reactions again soon afterwards to race off his line with Wood clean through on goal, and the striker's rushed miss owed everything to his presence of mind.
At the other end West Ham put Burnley's box under increased pressure in the second half but Heaton's only save of note came in the final minutes, albeit a crucial one.
Carroll looked certain to halve the deficit when he headed Aaron Cresswell's ball back towards the near post, until Heaton stuck out a strong hand to deny the forward from point-blank range.
While Burnley were left celebrating a much-needed win at the full-time whistle, West Ham were busy ruing a missed opportunity which could have taken them seventh in the Premier League but instead sees them end 2018 in 11th.
Westwood was truly outstanding in a Burnley midfield which has come in for plenty of criticism after recent defeats, getting the hosts on the front foot as much as he could and providing the kind of quality passes which Wood and Barnes were only too happy to feed off.
As well as putting in as many good crosses as anyone on the pitch (3, joint with McNeil), he had the best pass completion in the opposition half of any Burnley player, at 85.2 per cent, and made three key passes.
His playmaking was superb and he and central partner Jack Cork dominated the midfield battle throughout.
Burnley travel to fellow Premier League strugglers Huddersfield on Wednesday at 7.45pm, the same time as West Ham host Brighton at the London Stadium.
