JEFF Hendrick has praised Dean Marney’s unsung influence in Burnley’s midfield triangle.

Hendrick, Marney and Steven Defour all impressed for the Clarets in their 2-0 win over Watford on Monday night as boss Sean Dyche continued to place faith in the 4-2-3-1 formation he first introduced in the defeat at Leicester City.

MORE TOP STORIES:

While the midfield three gameplan worked for 45 minutes at the King Power Stadium, the trio produced a complete performance at Turf Moor, laying the foundations for a second victory of the season.

Defour, who assisted both goals, and Hendrick, who opened the scoring, might have stolen the headlines but the Clarets’ record signing also paid tribute to the sitting role Marney has played in the new system.

“We enjoyed it (against Watford), it was hard work but we enjoyed putting it in and then getting on the ball,” Hendrick said.

“I scored a goal, Steven got the assists and Dean was tremendous. He worked hard and for a good amount of the game he stood in front of the back four and he got the ball moving.

“He got us ticking at times. It was great to play with them.”

The praise has also come Defour’s way since his £7.5million move from Anderlecht in August. The Belgium international has either scored or set-up four of Burnley’s five goals this season and Hendrick is delighted to be playing alongside his new teammate.

“He’s got a lot of experience. He’s calm on the ball and as you can see he’s got a great delivery,” the Irishman said of Defour.

“He’s got an eye for a pass and a goal. It speaks for itself what he’s done this month and hopefully he carries it on.”

Hendrick’s first half header against the Hornets was his first goal for the Clarets, just weeks after he also broke his duck for the Republic of Ireland.

The former Derby midfielder has been determined to add more goals to his game and he’s hoping to become a regular on the scoresheet for Burnley.

“I’d love to start scoring a few more goals from midfield,” he said. “It was good to get that but the main thing is getting the three points.

“I made a conscious effort to get a bit more forward. I’ve been saying to myself ‘I want to score more goals’ and thankfully I’ve got two now this month. I’ll look to carry that on and hopefully I can get more.

“The main thing for me coming here was to be confident and I needed to show people what I can do. One of the main things for me is to get goals and help the team score goals. I’m happy that we did that (against Watford) and got the three points.”