SEAN Dyche believes the international break has given his side a good rest ‘mentally’ after spending the previous month fielding questions on when they would end their winless start to the season.

The Clarets had gone ten Premier League games without a win before beating the Tigers 1-0 at Turf Moor before the break.

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A lot of managers might have seen the two-week gap in league action as a hindrance, with the possibility of losing that momentum, but Dyche is happy for his players to give their heads a rest after ending the pressure of searching for that elusive first three points.

“In the one sense you get your first win and everyone feels better about life because of that, then you have that break,” said the Burnley manager.

“On the other hand the win comes at a nice time when there is a break and a bit of downtime ready to go again.

“On this occasion I think it is probably better because the players have had a lot of exposure for the wrong reasons this time, with this idea of could they win a game, when they will a game, so it’s a mental break rather than a physical break this time, because the demands are higher in the Premier League.”

The last fortnight has been the third international break already this season, and they have proved to be good omens for the Clarets.

At the end of August they held Manchester United at Turf Moor before a two-week break, and then on October 4 they scored an equaliser in the sixth minute of injury time to secure a 2-2 draw at Leicester City, before the win over Hull on November 8.

The wait for a first win of the season had been a constant topic of conversation when Dyche and his players faced the media, and although the boss said they weren’t distracted by it, he is pleased the win came before the latest break for the sake of his players.

He said: “The media scrutiny, the outside story of will they win a game, how many games will it take, it’s so heavily covered now that the players could get influenced by that over time, I don’t think they have done, but they could do.”

The victory over Hull also saw the Clarets keep a fourth clean sheet of the season, and their first since the shutout against Sunderland on September 20, and Dyche is delighted with the defensive performances of his side so far.

“The last time Burnley were in the Premier League they had three clean sheets in a season and we’ve had four in 11 games so it gives you a marker that side of the game has been reasonable,” he said.