Last Updated: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:21
Sean Dyche believes a water-tight Burnley defence could be the key to the Clarets mounting a promotion challenge this season.
The 1-0 win over promotion chasing Crystal Palace on Saturday marked the third clean sheet in the last four games and the sixth since Dyche has taken the reigns.
Dyche's first game was against Wolves in a 2-0 win at the start of November and since then the Clarets defence has become more formidable, conceding only 12 goals in his 15 games in charge.
In contrast, in the 12 games which Eddie Howe was in charge, Burnley conceded 27 goals and collected only one clean sheet, which came on the opening day of the season at home to Bolton.
Caretaker manager Terry Pashley guided Burnley to their then second shut-out of the season at home to Blackpool, in a 1-0 win in October.
Speaking after the victory on Saturday, Dyche was keen to state the stats that have seen Burnley rise to tenth in the table and only 4 points outside the playoff places.
He said: "I spoke to the players on Friday and aligned them with the stats. They showed that we were conceding 2.2 goals every game and now that's down to 0.85."
The goals have somewhat dried up, with the team only averaging a goal a game since he took charge, although that has coincided with the injury absence of Charlie Austin - who has missed the last three games.
Dyche is certain it's not down to the creativity of the side, and he has stats to back it up, adding: "We are just making one chance less than we were early season. We were making 15 and now it's 14. We had 7.8 on target, on average, and now it's seven."
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