Burnley's Penalty Shoot-Out Win: Hayen's First Competitive Victory

Nicky Hayen walked out of Meadow Lane with a place in the next round, a penalty shoot-out win and, just as importantly, a starting point.

Burnley’s new head coach knows it was far from perfect. He also knows it might be exactly what he needed.

A 4-3 victory on spot-kicks over Notts County, after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes, nudged the Clarets into the second round of the Carabao Cup and gave Hayen a first competitive win to build on before West Ham United arrive at Turf Moor for next Sunday’s Championship opener.

The result mattered. The mood mattered more.

Hayen’s first win – and first warning

Inside the dressing room, Hayen saw what he wanted: smiles, relief, a bit of noise. The kind of scene a new manager can use.

"It's good for the atmosphere," he told the club’s website, stressing how the shoot-out success can bleed into the league campaign. Next week’s game against West Ham will be a sell-out. He wants the place crackling.

Burnley started like a side eager to impress him. For 20 minutes they were on the front foot, aggressive, recovering the ball high and dictating the tempo. Zian Flemming found the net, and the Clarets looked in control.

Then the edge slipped.

Hayen saw his team lose their organisation, stop making the hard runs, slow the game down. He called it “a little bit of arrogance” – a blunt assessment for a first outing, but a clear line in the sand. Burnley switched off, allowed Notts County back into it, and paid for their complacency when the hosts levelled, sparking what he admitted was “a little bit of panic”.

By half-time, the message was sharp: this level is not enough.

He wanted the intensity back, the standard raised, the real Burnley to appear.

A flawed performance, a crucial passage

The response after the interval was better. For the first 15 minutes of the second half, Burnley pushed again, regained control and found the equaliser that took the tie to penalties. They chased a second goal but couldn’t quite stretch the game, with Hayen frustrated by a lack of depth and chance creation.

“It was an average performance,” he said, summing it up without dressing it up. He praised the good moments, but he did not hide from the sloppy ones – the slow passing, the looseness without the ball, the lapses in focus that turned a straightforward evening into a nervy one.

Yet in the shoot-out, Burnley held their nerve. Max Weiss stepped up as the hero from the spot, making the key intervention to send the Clarets through 4-3. Progress secured. Job done, if not emphatically.

Hayen’s verdict was simple: going through is “the most important”. At the end, that is what counts.

Building a bond at Turf Moor

Beyond the scoreline, Hayen’s eyes are fixed on something deeper: connection.

He spoke repeatedly about atmosphere, about energy, about the relationship between players and supporters. Saturday’s win, scruffy as it was, gave him a platform to talk about what he wants Turf Moor to feel like when West Ham come to town.

“We have to bring that energy into the stadium by delivering performances,” he said. The promise is clear: Burnley will work, and they will work visibly. Hayen wants a team that “pull up our sleeves” and go flat out for 95 minutes, a side the fans can recognise as their own.

If the players empty themselves, he believes, the crowd will respond. If the crowd responds, the stadium becomes a weapon again.

That is the vision: a sold-out Turf Moor, fuelled by a team that refuses to coast.

Key returns and quiet positives

Amid the scrutiny of the performance, there was another important boost. Connor Rovers, Aaron Ramsey and Zeki Amdouni all returned to action, each greeted warmly by the away support.

"You can see they are loved by the fans," Hayen noted. Their minutes were managed, but they came through well, and the plan is steady: day by day, game by game, their involvement will increase.

For a coach trying to shape a new side, getting influential players back on the pitch is no small detail. It adds depth. It adds options. It adds familiarity for a fanbase still adjusting to a new face in the dugout.

Hayen, though, is not interested in leaning on sentiment. He wants standards. He wants that Notts County wobble to serve as an early warning, not a recurring theme.

Burnley are through in the cup. The first win is on the board. The smiles have returned, at least for now.

Next, in front of a full house and under the sharper glare of the Championship, comes the real test of whether this new atmosphere at Turf Moor can survive 95 minutes when West Ham arrive and the stakes rise.