CHRIS WOOD made sure Turf Moor was a happy place for Burnley for the first time in five months.
I’m a Celeb star Jordan North turned the home of the Clarets into a household name last week as he spoke of his affection for the famous old venue.
Chris Wood wheels away after scoring what turned out to be the match-winnerCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Yet his favourite team had not scored at home for 316 minutes going into this game – and their last goal anywhere was on October 3.
However it took just eight minutes for them to take the lead here as Johann Gudmundsson lofted the ball in from the right and Cheikhou Kouyate fluffed his header to the edge of the box.
Jay Rodriguez – who got the nod ahead of Ashley Barnes – flicked the ball cleverly into the path of Wood and the Kiwi forward slammed past Vicente Guaita.
Jordan North will be delighted with the Burnley result – but will I’m A Celeb tell him?Credit: Rex Features
Palace had been hit with the news that Wilf Zaha had tested positive for coronavirus and was now self-isolating.
And the man who stepped in, Michy Batshuayi could have levelled but he could not quite get his toe to a cross from James McArthur – after good work from Eberechi Eze.
The Belgian had another chance minutes later when he rolled a 20 yard shot past the outstretched arm of Nick Pope but it drifted inches wide.
With regular defensive duo Ben Mee and James Tarkowski back in tandem, the Clarets were looking much more like their old selves.
And at the other end Gudmundsson was cleverly played into space by McNell but the Iceland international took his shot early and rattled the bar.
Nick Pope put his body on the line to prevent Christian Benteke from netting an equaliserCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Sean Dyche will be a relieved man after finally securing his first Premier League win of the seasonCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
McNeil almost gifted Palace an equaliser though when his horrific back pass put Batshuayi clean through but Pope got out quickly to come to his rescue – and was first to the rebound.
And the England international made another huge save in the dying minutes as Kouyate headed down for sub Christian Benteke.
The former Liverpool man got his shot in and seemed certain to score but Pope got a huge left hand to it to make a point blank save.
It proved to be enough to drag the Clarets out of the bottom three as they became the last team in all four divisions to get off the mark at home.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
