RODRIGUEZ HURT BY HAMMERS LATE COMEBACK

Goal scorer on narrow defeat to West Ham

Jay Rodriguez found the back of the net in Saturday afternoon’s game against West Ham United, and whilst pleased to contribute to the team, he described his hurt at the two late goals which resulted in the visitors taking the three points.

“I’m hurting, I think everyone in there’s hurting. We just can’t concede those goals, we know that. It was my fault for the second one, I think I should do better at the back post.

“It’s a tough one to take, especially the performance that we had but we can’t keep saying that we’re going to use this to move forward, learn from it and focus straight onto the next game – that’s how we deal with it. Keep working hard, keep consistently sticking together and keep improving and I think that’s what we can do.”

Reflecting on the performance which saw the Clarets show plenty of quality and limit the Hammers to very little in front of goal, Burnley’s number 9 said: “That’s it, a couple of the lads said to me they don’t know how they won that game and that shows you know from them that, you know – well you can’t say that they didn’t deserve it because they’ve scored two goals – but no it’s just those moments, those key moments to maybe grind out that 1-0 win is important. But we’re going to learn and like I say keep together, keep focussing and keep working and that’s what we can do.”

A foul on Luca Koleosho saw Rodriguez step up to the penalty spot, and whilst disappointed it couldn’t secure the win, he was pleased to play his part in putting the home side ahead.

“Yes, obviously to help the team is always the main objective and to have that feeling again is really nice but, you don’t feel like that in the moment, it’s hurting at the moment but hopefully just carry on.”

Next weekend the Clarets face fellow promoted side Sheffield United at home at Turf Moor and Rodriguez is keen to treat it like any other fixture.

“We have to keep our heads up, it’s a big game I think there was a person that I did an interview with said it’s a big game, but it doesn’t matter who you play against, every game we play now is a big game. So, we’ll work on all week how we can hurt them and be better than we were this week. That’s all we can do, is to keep focussed, keep sticking together and keep supporting each other.”

The seven days will give the side another week of hard work, something of which Rodriguez is seeing plenty of behind-the-scenes at the training ground.

“If I see myself, that we’re not working hard, we have a lot of information on how to hurt them and you can see in the games the things we’ve worked on and how it comes into play. I think it’s just like I say those moments that we’ve just got to be better at. That’s why it hurts so much because I think we’re playing well. You see things day in, day out with the team, everyone’s together, we’re working hard, we’re really committing to everything. I do believe it’s a matter of time, it’s going to turn, but it’s alright saying that we’ve just got to do it and I hope I’m speaking to you next week with a better result.

“It’s a good group of staff and players that are committed to what we’re doing, and we’ll keep working together. We’ve got to keep our heads up, it hurts now, but use that hurt for next week.”