'You never know': Owen Dodgson lays out Burnley objective after netting in Benfica friendly

The 20-year-old academy product scored Burnley’s opening goal during their 2-0 win against the Portuguese champions on Tuesday evening.

The left-back, who spent last season on loan in League Two with Rochdale, continues to train with the first-team this summer – an opportunity the youngster wants to make the most of.

“I’ve just got to keep working hard and keep impressing the gaffer, because you never know,” Dodgson told Clarets+.

“At the end of the day all the gaffer wants to see is hard work and I give that. As a young lad I’ve just got to keep working hard and learning and you never know, so we’ll see.

“Every minute I get I just want to impress and hopefully I’ve done that. Hopefully it’s the first of many.”

Dodgson took his goal well against Benfica, catching the goalkeeper out at his near post with a low drilled effort into the bottom corner.

The defender, who made his Burnley debut in an FA Cup tie against Huddersfield Town in January 2022, has only ever scored one senior goal, coming in a 1-1 draw against Mansfield Town during last season’s loan spell.

“It was a great feeling,” he said of his midweek effort.

“The ball came across to me, I cut onto my left out on the right and I thought ‘I might as well give it a go’. I had Twiney in my ear on the overlap but I just gave it a crack and I scored, which was a great feeling.

“The lads were all buzzing for me and I’m buzzing myself.”

Dodgson made 18 appearances for Rochdale last season. Despite the campaign ending in relegation, the Burnley youngster believes it was an experience that certainly benefited him.

“It was definitely a change, but a good change. I definitely needed men’s football,” he said.

“To go from Under-21s to men’s football was definitely a help for me and I’ve definitely come back for pre-season a lot stronger and a lot more experienced.

“I just want more and more men’s football, which will definitely benefit me.”