Burnley 4-0 Huddersfield Town: Clarets hit four in routine win over Neil Warnock's Terriers

Josh BrownhillImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Burnley captain Josh Brownhill slotted in his side's third shortly after the half-hour mark in a dominant performance from the Championship leaders

Championship leaders Burnley took another step towards their seemingly inevitable promotion by cruising to victory against Neil Warnock's Huddersfield.

It took the Clarets only seven minutes to take the lead when Ashley Barnes got a touch on Anass Zaroury's cross.

Connor Roberts' close-range finish made it two on 18 minutes and skipper Josh Brownhill added a third shortly after the half-hour mark.

Vincent Kompany's men eased off in the second half with the game already won but added a fourth when Nathan Tella crossed for substitute Michael Obafemi to finish after 73 minutes.

The win makes it 12 in Burnley's last 14 league games and they remain 12 points ahead of second-placed Sheffield United, who won 1-0 at home to Watford.

As expected, the Clarets enjoyed plenty of possession early on and they led inside the opening 10 minutes when Barnes stretched to connect with Zaroury's ball in.

Warnock's men responded well to going behind and created a good opening but Joe Hungbo dragged his shot across goal after good work from Jack Rudoni.

But it was a short respite from Burnley dominance and it was 2-0 after 18 minutes when Johann Gudmundsson ran undetected into the Terriers' box to collect Hjalmar Ekdal's pass, before touching the ball past goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic to Wales right-back Roberts, who was left with a simple tap-in.

Kompany's side were in total control and it was three after 31 minutes with Gudmundsson again the creator, crossing the ball to find the run of Brownhill, who took a touch to steady himself before slotting past Bilokapic.

Ian Maatsen had a chance before the break but missed the target before Huddersfield broke upfield and Rudoni found space for a shot, but could only find the side-netting from a tight angle.

The Terriers started the second half on the front foot and Burnley goalkeeper Ari Muric was called into action to tip over Danny Ward's shot before Scott High sent a half-volley over the bar .

Tella then fired across the face of goal at the other end and Brownhill shot wide from distance as the Clarets looked to add to their lead.

They finally did so with 17 minutes remaining following another fine move started by Roberts, who found Tella and his cross was met by Swansea loanee Obafemi to score from close range and round off a victory that emphasised the gap between two sides at opposite ends of the league.

Burnley manager Vincent Kompany:

"It was solid on all fronts. Look back on the game and we're sending 20,000 fans home happy and allowing people in Burnley to have a good Sunday.

"If you even go through the home games we've had this season, we've had many good performances. We created chances, we didn't score every one, so it can always be better.

"But we were threatening, and it links well with the fact we had a good performance in midweek at Millwall, where I think we had 19 shots and then today we had 22 shots. I have a feeling of job not done yet for us. We are still number 21 in English football, and we have to get better."

Terriers manager Neil Warnock told BBC Radio Leeds:

"They [Burnley] are the best side I've seen in 25 years really. When I've seen them this season they are a Premier League team. I was pleased with the second half. I said to them at half-time 'you're playing for your pride now' as we knew Burnley away wasn't going to decide if we stayed up or not.

"We've got 13 games to go and I think all of them are winnable. I think they were just too good today. I couldn't criticise any of the effort. What pleased me at the end was the fans clapping us because we're going to need the fans now. I'm convinced the fans will get right behind us.

"We were beaten by the better side but I was pleased with the way we stuck at it. We could have easily caved in and been an embarrassment but it wasn't like that."

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