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Sean Dyche 'definitely' makes Burnley difficult to beat - Hendrick

Jeff Hendrick and Jack Cork hailed the work of boss Sean Dyche after Burnley battled to a 1-0 victory at home to Newcastle.

Republic of Ireland midfielder Hendrick scored the only goal of the game after 74 minutes as the Clarets leapfrogged their opponents to move up to seventh place.

Dyche has been linked with the vacant manager's position at Everton of late but Hendrick was full of praise for the 46-year-old.

Asked if Dyche was the reason why Burnley are so hard to beat, Hendrick told Sky Sports Premier League: "Definitely.

"He has us working hard every week, and the bare minimum is to give it our lot and make it hard for teams against us.

"From there we get the goal and play and, like we've shown this year, we've scored some great goals and we need to continue that.''

Dyche was celebrating his fifth anniversary as manager at Turf Moor and summer signing Cork paid tribute to the former Watford boss.

Cork said: "He's been great with me. I've only been with him this season and worked with him previously a little bit at Watford.

"He's a man who wants everything from you. He wants hard work and honesty at all times and just gives you that little bit of freedom and belief in yourself to show your quality when you've got the ball.

"It's a good atmosphere to be in.''

When asked what he would do if he was approached by Everton, Dyche said: "I just keep getting on with my job, it's as simple as that.''

He added: "We just keep getting on with it, that's my focus and my team's focus. We have to plan in the boardroom, but generally we take it each game as it comes.''

The win was just Burnley's second at home so far this season and Dyche was pleased with his side's showing.

He said on Sky Sports Premier League: "They [Newcastle] are very organised, very compact and they are making a good show of it this season, but so are we.''

After a quiet first half, Newcastle forward Ayoze Perez tested Nick Pope in the 50th minute with the Burnley goalkeeper able to keep his shot out at full stretch.

The deadlock was finally broken with 16 minutes remaining when Hendrick converted Johann Berg Gudmundsson's cross at the far post.

Joselu dragged a shot wide for the Magpies in the 82nd minute and Jonjo Shelvey drilled straight at Pope from the edge of the box as the game began to liven up.

Ashley Barnes could have sealed victory for the hosts in the 87th minute but his good strike was well saved by Rob Elliot.

There was still time for Newcastle to snatch a draw, but Isaac Hayden's effort was tipped wide by Pope and Javier Manquillo headed over in added time.

Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez said: "It was a game we were controlling, and we knew that scoring one goal we could win and, in this case, we could lose.

"We made a mistake and we paid for that, we gave the ball away and we were caught in a bad position.

"Little details can make the difference and in this case it was us. We were not very precise on the ball and it is something we have to improve.''

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