Vincent Kompany hailed the Burnley supporters for providing the “rocket fuel” for his side’s 5-1 Sky Bet Championship victory at Wigan.
Josh Brownhill’s brace plus goals from Jay Rodriguez, Nathan Tella and Samuel Bastien gave the Clarets north west bragging rights, with Will Keane pulling one back for Wigan from the penalty spot.
Burnley were roared on from start to finish by a sell-out away contingent of almost 5,000, to whom Kompany dedicated the victory.
“It was rocket fuel today!” he said. “And that’s the beauty of these types of away games. You get 5,000 fans with you, every goal you feel you’re celebrating with such a huge following.
“I said to the players, ‘go and score goals and go and celebrate with the fans, give them something to cheer’, and they did exactly that.”
Aside from 20 minutes either side of half-time, when Keane scored and should have levelled the scores at 2-2, Burnley were good value for their win.
Kompany said: “There was a team out there who fought for every ball. Ten difficult minutes in the first half, we battled through it.
“And in the second half, we did everything we needed to do in the future against teams who are chasing the game. We had threat in behind, patience with the ball, and when we had the opportunity we broke the lines and attacked in numbers.
“It was a good lesson, a really good lesson. We saw every side of the game that we can be facing in the Championship, with different qualities.
“When you have a team with so many new players, every step of the way is filled with lessons. Sometimes you get away with it, you win and learn and go another day, and last time we didn’t get away with it.
“But we didn’t have much to get away with. We improved and I just hope now it will gel a little bit to be ready for the next challenges.”
For Wigan boss Leam Richardson, it was a sobering reminder of the quality at this level – and the small margin for error.
Indeed, had Keane put away his big chance at 2-1 – moments before Burnley added a third from an offside-looking Tella – it could have been so different.
“Firstly congratulations to Burnley for the result and the victory,” he said.
“If you want to dissect the game, which we all like to do, we’re obviously disappointed with the scoreline.
“We’ll collectively take it on the chin and I’ll take responsibility for the last two goals.
“You have a choice at 3-1 down with 10 minutes left of keeping it at 3-1 or trying to force a positive result, which leaves you wide open to exactly that.
“We probably shaded the first half if I’m being truthful, albeit we weren’t happy with the way we started. We then came out strongly for the second half and created a big chance, which we didn’t take.
“And to then concede the third goal straight away – and an offside goal at that, a simple decision – is disappointing.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the opposition because they beat us well.
“It’s my job to look into how that happened and educate the players on how to be better in certain situations.
“At the same time, you’ve always got to be mindful about where we are.
“There were two leagues between these clubs not so long ago but we won’t use that as an excuse, only a lesson from which we can learn.”
