BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche says getting the basics right and a winning mentality have been key factors in the club’s rise to the top of the Championship table.

The Clarets moved into first place with a 2-0 win at Doncaster on Tuesday night.

But the boss has heaped praise on his players for the club’s remarkable start to the season, and believes that their form has been built on basic values.

“I think the secret to a season is to do the small details, the ugly things, the things that people don’t notice,” he said.

“But I notice them and my staff notice them.

“They’re willing to do the ugly things, they’re willing to do the game management.

“If we have to grind we’ll grind and if we have to win with quality we’ll win with quality.

“It’s a case of how many times you can do that over a season. It’s going well at the moment.

“At any level of football – and I’ve played in them all apart from the Premier League – you’ve got to have that mix.

“Our players are showing good signs of finding many different ways to win.

“There’s a real feelgood factor. If a result went against us I don’t think we’d walk around with doom and gloom, we’d remain positive.

“We lost at Brighton and we had a terrible decision go against us with our goalkeeper getting sent off, and the response to that was immaculate.”

Dyche has been delighted with the form of strikers Danny Ings and Sam Vokes but knows that their success so far this term has been a team effort.

“A lot is being made of the strike force, and rightly so,” he said.

“But the back five were tremendous again on Tuesday and they’ve given us a base to build on.

“There’s still work to be done but we’re enjoying it.

“The obvious challenge is that there are bigger clubs than ours with massive budgets and players everywhere, but that doesn’t give them a guaranteed licence for success.

“We can be successful, especially if we can keep delivering, keep this mentality and fitness, and remain injury free.”

Dyche was pleased to reward the 1,400 supporters who made the trip to Doncaster with the victory that took the club top of the table.

“The away fans since I’ve been at the club have been absolutely terrific come rain or shine,” he said.

“A lot is made of players that they don’t appreciate it but they do appreciate it, trust me. I make sure our group appreciate it.”

The boss is happy that his side have given supporters plenty of reasons to be proud about their club, after difficult times since relegation from the Premier League.

“I don’t think the pride went away, from looking from the outside in and then as manager,” he added. “There’s always pride for Burnley fans in their club.

“It just accelerates it when you’re winning, never more so than of course being top of the league.

“Individuals have to deliver for themselves but then that galvanises into a team and once the team are going well we bring the fans along.

“I mentioned when I first got here, one of my biggest challenges was to get every nose in Burnley pointing in the right direction.

“We’re getting there, slowly but surely.”