BURNLEY HERO DANNY FOX OUT TO PROVE EVERTON MISSED OUT

BURNLEY 2 WEST HAM 1

Burnley's instant hero Danny Fox is determined to prove Everton missed out on the next big thing by letting him go.

The 23-year-old debutant was the toast of Turf Moor on Saturday night after setting up one goal and scoring another as Burnley ended a 12-match winless streak against relegation-haunted West Ham.

This match was a true six-pointer with both sides hovering at the wrong end of the table.

But Burnley’s new boy, who signed from Celtic last week for £1.5m, helped decide the match to drag the Clarets out of the relegation zone and push Gianfranco Zola’s men back in.

Fox was released by the Toffees back in the summer of 2005 and the closest he got to making a Premier League start for the Merseysiders was when he sat on the bench against Aston Villa in October 2004.

It was not to be, but after serving out his footballing apprenticeship at Walsall and Coventry followed by a six-month stint in Scotland, Fox is finally in the big time – and he plans to make the most of it.

He said: “I always wanted to play in the Premier League and I’m grateful to Burnley for bringing me here.

“It is not just a short-term thing. I want to play at the top level like every player does.

“This has to be the best day of my career.

“I got let go by Everton when I was 18 and I am an Everton fan. It was a bitter blow, but it was always my aim to prove people wrong.

“I have done that but it’s one game. Now I want to play here for a long time and I need to become more consistent to do that.”

He launched a through ball forward after 14 minutes which allowed David Nugent to sneak in past the bumbling Matthew Upson to strike home Burnley’s first.

The Hammers looked poor early on and never got going although Benni McCarthy did have a shot cleared off the line.

And it was 2-0 soon after the break as Fox hit an absolute belter of a free-kick from outside the box.

Jack Collison had pushed Tyrone Mears to the ground for the free-kick and although Fox looked like crossing he curled the ball home instead – much to his own amazement, never mind the rest of Turf Moor.

He smiled: “I practised those free-kicks for an hour and a half with Tyrone Mears and hit the target once the other day!

“I wasn’t going to shoot, but David Nugent came up to me at the last minute and said go for goal because it is so close.

“I think Rob Green thought I was going to cross it and it did dip at the last moment – in fact I thought it was going over and it dipped at the last second.”

West Ham showed plenty of heart and became the better side. They should have got a point – and maybe even three.

Mido and Ilan came on and both had impressive debuts after joining West Ham last week.

Ilan gave the travelling fans huge hope with 10 minutes left when he swept home a loose ball in the box to make it 2-1.

Junior Stanislas and Mido hit the woodwork in the dying moments but the ball just wouldn’t go in.

The Hammers have yet to win under new owners David Gold and David Sullivan and are back into the drop zone.

But Zola has not heard any bad news from the pair about his future quite yet.

He said: “I don’t know how they are going to react. My job is to keep working and try to find solutions.

“We will see. As far as I’m concerned I’m doing the best and I hope this is appreciated and if it is not then I’m sure they’ll let me know.

“I think the players know that we need to react straight away from this.

“The players are very committed and desperate to see this team successful and I’m sure we will see this team come back stronger.”

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