NATHAN COLLINS impressed as Burnley held Wolves to a 0-0 draw in the Premier League this evening.
It was just the 20-year-old’s fourth Premier League start since signing from Stoke in the summer and second clean sheet he has picked up in that time.
Burnley maintained their impressive record against Wolves — the result made it six unbeaten versus the West Midlands side for Sean Dyche.
It was the first time that Dyche’s side had played since their thrilling 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace last month after Storm Arwen postponed the Clarets’ clash with Tottenham last Sunday.
Although a point will not please Dyche too much, his side are proving tough to beat as they have only lost one from their last eight Premier League games.
Only the top three teams in the league had conceded fewer than Wolves coming into their fixture with Burnley and that continued as they kept their third clean sheet in a row.
But Bruno Lage’s men need to direct their training efforts to the other end of the pitch as their goal drought continued. Wolves have managed just one goal in their last four games.
The most danger Wolves caused Burnley came on the half-hour mark as Adama Traore led a counter-attack with his renowned pace.
Raul Jimenez joined him and created a two-on-one situation where the two Wolves forwards were running at Charlie Taylor. Taylor forced Traore wide and the Spanish forward struck from distance which rocketed off the bar and Collins cleared.
It was the type of match that Wolves could have benefitted from Ruben Neves’ creativity, but he served his one-match ban.
Traore again had an opportunity to put his side ahead. This time in the early stages of the second half. Rayan Ait-Nouri’s low cross was blocked and deflected into the path of Traore who slipped as he was about to shoot from inside the 18-yard box.
Traore used his lightning pace again with a direct run past four Burnley men. His deep cross was a stretch for Jimenez and Nick Pope collected with ease.
That did spark Lage to gee up the Molineux crowd and Hwang Hee-chan nearly rewarded them for their support but his low-driven shot was deflected wide.
Burnley’s first attempt at target was Dwight McNeil’s guided effort which forced Jose Sa to turn around the post and out for a corner.
Jay Rodriguez audaciously attempted to chip Sa from outside the box in injury time but it was well over the bar.
Dyche’s side remain in the bottom three but do have a game in hand, whereas Wolves missed an opportunity to go fifth.
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
