CULLEN PROUD OF BATTLING DRAW AT CHELSEA

Midfielder hails special performance against Blues

Josh Cullen put in an excellent shift at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with his stunning goal and an assist helping the Clarets secure an important point on the road.

Speaking after the game the midfielder was bursting with pride at the impressive character and spirit shown on the day and hopes it’ll help the side kick on with eight games to go!

“I’m really pleased with the point. To go down to ten men in the first half, 1-0 down at half-time. I think we played well in the first-half as well, I don’t think we deserved to go in 1-0 down.

“We showed our spirit, we showed the fight we’ve still got. It would have been easy to use the ten men as an excuse and kind of chuck the towel in I suppose. But the group we’ve got, the staff we’ve got, we believed at half-time that we could come out and get a result. Hopefully that’s going to turn out to be a very important point by the end of the season.”

His stunning hit after the restart drew the Clarets level following Chelsea’s first half lead and it was a case of goal scorer turned provider when he got the assist for Dara O’Shea’s header.

How happy was he to see his effort hit the back of the net?

“Yeah delighted, it’s something I’ve been working on. I want to try when I get into forward areas, to create more and try to score more goals. So yes, to get one today was a lovely feeling.

“But credit to all the lads. The main thing is coming away with something when you’re down to ten men at a tough place to go, against a really good side. I think we can be pleased with today, now we’ve just got to get ready for Tuesday.”

Burnley’s challenge at the Bridge became tougher five minutes before the break when a Lorenz Assignon red card saw the Clarets reduced to ten men. Against an attacking Chelsea side how would Cullen assess the team’s defensive display?

“I think that all the lads put a shift in, the back four were brilliant. The substitutes that came on were brilliant, Jay was unreal when he came on at holding the ball up for us. Aro made some massive saves like he always does.

“We had a good shape about us, hard work, bodies on the line and a good defensive display.”

Vincent Kompany’s side have eight games remaining this season which Cullen calls eight cup finals. Is the character and fight shown in today’s performance going to be key moving forward?

“Yes, and that’s exactly how we’ll have to treat it. Eight massive games to go. Eight games and we have to go into every single one trying to win and believing we can win. And we do believe that we can beat anyone on our day, and we showed that today. Obviously not getting the three points but doing what we did with ten men away from home against a team that’s spent a lot of money to put that side together.

“We’re going to need everyone. We’ve got a busy week now so we’re going to need the full squad, everyone pulling together. We’ve got a good spirit in there and believe we can do something special.”

Four points from two have given the Lancashire side a much-needed boost and the 27-year-old wants to carry this momentum into Tuesday night’s test against Wolves.

“We’ve always believed we can get results against anyone. It hasn’t quite worked for us this season so far for one reason or another. We’ve put in some good performances against big sides but just come out on the wrong side of results, fine margins in games, key moments. But today we made the most of what we’ve got. Yes, they missed some chances, but Jay had a cracking header at the end that could have won it for us.

“We believe. We’ve got another two games this week, two massive games. Now we’ve just got to recover and get ourselves ready for another tough one Tuesday night back at home in front of our fans. I know it’ll be a great atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it.”