ON Friday one major bookmaker tweeted their price on Burnley not winning a Premier League game all season.

The odds of 20/1 on Sean Dyche’s side going a further 28 top flight games without a win were an insult to every player in the squad, and 24 hours later they made that derisory price look laughable.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Since August it had been a case of nearly-but-not-quite for the Clarets, but on a wet, windy afternoon at Turf Moor they bagged those first three points of the campaign, and rammed the words of the doubters back down their throats.

When Burnley travelled to Hull in the Championship on November 24, 2012, they were still in Sean Dyche’s honeymoon period.

Two years on he has been questioned, outside the town, for the first time in his tenure, a laughable turn of events considering how far ahead of schedule this side are in his grand plan.

They won 1-0 that day, and only three players, Jason Shackell, Michael Duff and Dean Marney, survived to start this time around, as a repeat scoreline made it eight wins in nine games against the Tigers.

During the first 10 games of the season there have been two recurring themes when the fortunes of Burnley have been discussed, a lack of goals from the strikers, and, more recently, a worrying tendency to concede goals.

So to secure that first win, with a first Premier League goal for Ashley Barnes, and a first clean sheet since mid-September, was doubly satisfying.

Four years ago Barnes was in the middle of an eight game run without a goal as he toiled away for Brighton in League One.

This was his second league start of the season, having come off the bench six times, as Dyche shuffled his attack for the third time in three games, and he repaid that faith by scoring his first goal since his strike against Wigan turned Premier League dreams into reality for Burnley.

In the week Hull boss Steve Bruce spoke of the danger of his players underestimating the Clarets, and he clearly believed that had been the case as he laid into them after the final whistle.

He described it as a ‘horrible afternoon’, apologised to the travelling supporters and said his side were so lacklustre and lifeless ‘it was scary’.

Bruce could certainly have expected more from his £10million man Abel Hernandez, who looked like he didn’t fancy a wet afternoon in East Lancashire, although having spent a year playing up front alongside former Claret Kyle Lafferty for Palermo you would think he would have known what to expect.

It was certainly a slow start from the visitors, and they could easily have found themselves behind within 40 seconds.

Danny Ings latched on to Scott Arfield’s ball over the top and looped the ball over Steve Harper in the Hull goal, but his finish bounced agonisingly wide.

The first of ten yellow cards in the game arrived on six minutes, when James Chester fouled his former Hull teammate George Boyd.

Mark Clattenburg was returning to the fold after a week off as punishment for driving home on his own from a game to catch an Ed Sheeran concert, and he looked to be making up for lost time as he flashed cards in all directions, infuriating Dyche on the touchline along the way.

Ings came close again on 20 minutes. Boyd’s deep corner was kept alive by Jason Shackell, and his header fell to Ings eight-yards out, but the striker’s volley was brilliantly parried by Harper, only for Paul McShane to slice his attempted clearance back towards his own goal, where it was superbly hacked away on the line by Robbie Brady, with goal line technology replays showing the ball was right on the line when it was cleared.

The two teams went in goalless at half time, despite Burnley having all the chances, and the comparisons with the Turf Moor clash with West Ham three weeks ago were inescapable. That day the Clarets went in at the break level, despite dominating the game, and then found themselves 2-0 down ten minutes after the restart.

Dyche’s message to his team at the break was to make sure that it didn’t happen again, and the tables were turned on 50 minutes when Barnes made the breakthrough.

Ings’ blocked shot spun wide to Trippier, his cross was right on the money, and Barnes could head home from six yards out.

It was the perfect response to being left out of the squad completely, and showed the character that has been a key asset in his rise through the leagues.

It was the first time in over 17 hours of football that Burnley had been ahead in a game, and their only previous lead, on the opening weekend of the season, had lasted just three minutes.

It was to last until the end this time though, as Hull failed to run up much of a head of steam in their search for the equaliser. Indeed it was the Clarets who continued to look the more likely, Boyd seeing a shot inside the area blocked, and Jutkiewicz, on for Barnes, having a shot saved by Harper.

The Tigers cause wasn’t helped when Curtis Davies injured his back attempting an acrobatic overhead kick.

He tried to struggle on but he had to leave the field with 15 minutes to play, and with Bruce having already made all his substitutions, they had to finish the game with 10 men.

Tom Heaton was never threatened in the Clarets goal, and the final whistle bought a wave of relief over Turf Moor.