Howe always knew his hotshot Austin would come good (From This Is Lancashire)

Howe always knew his hotshot Austin would come good

7:38am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Football By Suzanne Geldard, Burnley FC reporter

BURNLEY manager Eddie Howe said he always believed Charlie Austin would end his goal drought.

The striker had gone six games without a goal before last night’s 2-0 win over Barnsley.

Austin scored the second soon after the hour, after having a header from Kieran Trippier’s corner ruled out on the stroke of half-time, despite the ball appearing to cross the line.

And Howe says the 22-year-old deserved to be rewarded for his persistence in his attempts to get back among the goals.

“I think if you look at Charlie’s performances, against Peterborough and Derby especially, he could have had plenty of goals in those games. The pleasing thing was he was still been getting chances,” said the Burnley boss.

“He’ll be pleased to score. I think his allround game was very good too, and Josh McQuoid on the left-hand side. He was really impressive and showed he is settling in a beginning to know the players.

“But all round you can go through all of them – Dean Marney was excellent in midfield – I was really pleased with all the players.

“We have had a number of games in a short period of time and Barnsley didn’t play on Saturday. Before the game that’s always in your mind but I don’t think it showed. The lads were excellent and managed to continue that momentum for 90 minutes, which is always difficult.”

It was a comfortable night for the Clarets, on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Southampton at the weekend, and Howe said: “We wanted a response and we got one.

“It was a really good performance against a very good side. Barnsley are a good team and we looked dangerous. Our front two were a handful all night.

“We wanted the second goal and I think we needed the second goal. I thought our performance deserved that.”

Of Austin’s header, which didn’t stand, Howe added: “There were mixed reactions from the lads, some were absolutely certain it was over. I think it depends what view you had. I don’t know, I haven’t seen it again.”

And Howe was pleased that a debut for Danny Ings, who suffered cruciate knee ligament damage days after signing from Bournemouth in August, has added to his attacking options.

“We’ve been patient with Danny. He’s a young lad and we don’t want to push him back too quickly. It’s his first injury and that’s always a new experience for a player,” he said.

“He’s worked extremely hard to get to where he is now. You can see in his little cameo he works extremely hard and that will do him the world of good. It’s a nice little introduction for the supporters to what he’s about.”