But Wade Elliott feels the point gleaned at the blue half of Manchester has given Burnley as much, if not more, belief than the win over the champions.

Much was made of the Clarets' away form in the Premier League, having lost at Stoke, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Blackburn before the trip to Eastlands.

Home form had kept the side in the top half of the table for all bar two occasions to date.

That precious point on the road, however, and the manner it was earned, has proved the Clarets are evolving in the top flight, and can be a threat away from Turf Moor.

Burnley went into the international break having consolidated 10th place, with a home clash with Aston Villa and a trip to West Ham to come before the month is out.

Elliott feels the side are growing into the Premier League, and are determined to put the pundits in their place and maintain their status as a top-flight club: "We can look at things we can improve on and lessons we can take forward.

"Maybe we're learning as we go along, I think we maybe had a tendancy to feel we had to score from every attack, and if you're trying to do that against Chelsea, for example, we defended well, but were right up against it.

"We were winning the ball but giving it away again quite quickly and we were under pressure again.

"I think we've learned that we have to be brave on the ball, maybe monopolise possession for a bit and give the lads at the back chance to get their shape and get themselves together, instead of us being a little bit ragged and wide open.

"It's a lot easier said and done, but we showed signs we're evolving at City."

Prior to that point at City, Burnley had come in for criticism on their travels, but their home form stands comparison with the best.

It was about transfering that form at Turf Moor to away grounds, and Elliott feels Burnley have shown they can pick up points on the road without sacrificing their footballing principles: "We'd love to win every home game, but we know there's probably no team in the Premier League will do that this season.

"We had to pick something up away from home sooner or later, and the result at City reflected the performance.

"The way we're set up, we won't go and park the bus, you can see all the lads enjoy playing the way we do, the crowd enjoy watching it, and although we're capable of grinding our results, we can get results in a manner that makes us play football.

"That's the way we're set up, and it's probably our best chance, if we just went to defend and sit in for the 90, we wouldn't be as effective."

The 30-year-old, who lives close to Old Trafford, has already been on the winning side against the Reds this season, and now has upset the Blues: "I went for a meal after the game, I had a few friends up for the game, so I got a cab into town and met them.

"I was on the phone to my dad, and the cab driver was a City fan, so I could see the tariff going up as I was talking!"

But he points to the whole day as a sign of Burnley's success so far: "We stayed over in a hotel, and it was a good day all round. The bus picked us up in Manchester and dropped us back at the hotel, all the lads got off and stayed with each other for half an hour or so and I don't know if you'd get that at too many other places.

"It's nice we've got that togetherness.

"The new lads have assimilated into that quite easily, they're all good lads, good characters, and it's quite an easy group to imbed yourself in with.

"It just seems to be the ethos of the club and the dressing room to carry on whether you were here last year, new in, or have been here as long as Duffo or Beasty, you just seem to pick it up."