Burnley Secures Penalty Shoot-Out Win Under Nicky Hayen

Nicky Hayen walked off Turf Moor with relief more than euphoria, but his first competitive game in charge had given him exactly what he needed: progress, a penalty shoot-out win, and a spark of connection with the Burnley crowd.

It was not pretty. It did not need to be.

What mattered was the 4-3 victory on spot kicks over Notts County in the Carabao Cup after a 1-1 draw in normal time, and the sense that something began to stir inside a stadium that will be sold out when West Ham United arrive for the Championship opener next Sunday.

Building a bond at Turf Moor

Hayen has been clear from day one. He wants Turf Moor noisy, hostile, united. He wants a team that looks like its supporters.

Saturday’s win, he believes, can help light that fuse.

“It’s good for the atmosphere,” he said, speaking to the club’s website, still buoyed by the sight of his players celebrating together. The smiles in the dressing room mattered to him. They were not just a reaction to a cup tie edged on penalties, but a tool he wants to carry into a much bigger stage next week.

“It’s a big game next week, the stadium will be sold out,” he pointed out. The aim is simple: turn that full house into a force.

Burnley’s new manager is not asking the fans to do the work for his players. He is demanding the reverse. Energy must come from the pitch first, he insists, with performances that drag the stands into the contest.

“We have to bring that energy into the stadium by delivering performances,” he said. The promise is clear enough: a Burnley side that runs, fights and refuses to drift through minutes. “We have to promise that we’ll keep on going for 95 minutes, pull up our sleeves.”

Identity is the word that keeps surfacing. Hayen wants supporters to recognise themselves in the team’s effort, even on imperfect days. “We want the fans to be able to identify with the team for 95 minutes and that at the end they can say they did everything. We will always give the maximum that we can to please them.”

Imperfect performance, important win

The performance itself? Hayen did not dress it up.

Burnley started strongly, on the front foot in the opening 20 minutes, aggressive in the press and regaining possession high up the pitch. Zian Flemming found the net to give the Clarets the lead, and for a spell it looked like the tie might tilt decisively their way.

Then the level dropped.

Organisation slipped, the intensity faded, and with it came something the new boss will not tolerate: complacency. “We felt like we were playing quite well, a little bit of arrogance,” he admitted. For him, that is non-negotiable. “This is something that we can’t accept – we always have to stay focused for 95 minutes.”

Notts County grew into the game and found their equaliser, and with it came “a little bit of panic”, as Hayen put it. The interval arrived with Burnley needing a reset as much as a rest.

Half-time brought a blunt message. The standard had to rise. The level had to look like a Championship side at home, not a team coasting through a cup tie.

The response after the restart was better. Burnley stepped up again in the first 15 minutes of the second half, found their equaliser, and began to push for a winner. The intent returned, but the cutting edge did not. “We pushed for the second goal, but we didn’t create enough chances or create enough depth in our game,” Hayen said.

When the game drifted to penalties, the jeopardy sharpened the focus. Max Weiss took centre stage, the Burnley goalkeeper emerging as the shoot-out hero as the Clarets edged it 4-3 to reach the second round. Hayen did not pretend it was a complete display.

“I’m happy to go through to the next round of the cup, this is the most important,” he said. “At the end that’s what counts. We’re aware it wasn’t the perfect performance. We had some really good moments but there were also moments when we were too sloppy, we played too slowly, and this is something that we have to improve. It was an average performance.”

Average on the ball, but good enough on the night. And for a manager who has just stepped into the job, that combination – flaws exposed, progress secured – can be useful.

Key returns and quiet positives

Beyond the result and the mood, there was another layer of encouragement for Burnley. Connor Roberts, Aaron Ramsey and Zeki Amdouni all returned to action, a significant boost with the league campaign about to begin.

“You can see they are loved by the fans so it’s nice to see that they had an impact in the past,” Hayen said. That affection from the stands is a currency he wants to spend wisely.

The minutes they banked on Saturday were important. Not spectacular, not headline-grabbing, but essential. “It was great that these players had minutes, that they sustained quite well. Now day by day and game by game they’ll have more minutes. We have to continue the way we are working at the moment.”

That last line might be the most telling. Hayen is not chasing shortcuts. He wants habits, not moments.

The cup tie against lower-league opposition exposed some early-season rust and a few worrying lapses, but it also gave him something tangible: progression, returning players, and a dressing room that remembered what it feels like to win together.

Next up is West Ham, a different level of test entirely, under the lights of a sold-out Turf Moor. Hayen has his victory, his first glimpse of connection, and a promise hanging in the air: a Burnley side that will run, scrap and push for all 95 minutes.

Now the question is whether that promise holds when the Championship truly starts to bite.