Back-to-back wins will come – Wallace

Not since successive Turf Moor victories over Manchester United and Everton in the Premier League, coincidentally the last time England won the Ashes series, have the Clarets recorded back-to-back victories.

The Scot’s strike just before the half hour mark at the Madejski Stadium against Reading gave caretaker boss Stuart Gray’s side the momentum to achieve that feat but they were stopped in their tracks courtesy of a Shane Long brace.

“We had a lot of chances,” Wallace said. “Deano had a few when he would normally put them away. It just wasn’t his day. We had a lot of chances late on as well when we could have sneaked it and overall I don’t think we deserved to lose.

“We played well. We passed it well, linked up down both sides and we helped out Thommo up front, which is what Stu wanted us to do, with the midfield guys pushing on.”

Wallace’s goal on Monday was his third of the season with others coming against Leicester City and Watford. In fact the last time Wallace found himself on the losing side after scoring was in a 4-1 defeat against the Royals with Preston North End.

He said: “I had a lot of time to pick my spot. It was nice to get the goal. The goallie left me a lot of space at that side (for the free kick) but I just didn’t manage to get enough dip on it and it just went onto the bar instead of underneath. It was pretty frustrating.”

The Clarets now face Port Vale in the third round of the FA Cup tomorrow followed by a home game against league leaders QPR. Wallace added: “It’s frustrating for the fans as well for us not to get two or three wins together but if they just stick with us we will get it right. We have got good players at this club.

“But we need to start doing it now. Probably in the next three or four games we need to pick a lot of points up.”