Burnley boss Dyche’s fury at officials after opener

Dexter Blackstock headed in Andy Reid’s deep cross just after the interval, but he appeared to use Burnley skipper Jason Shackell to climb and reach the ball.

Dyche was not happy with the lack of a free kick – but also lamented missed opportunities, particularly in the first half: “It felt like the first goal would be pivotal, the last 25 minutes of the first half I felt we had a couple of very good chances and arguably should have gone in 1-0 up.

“But you’ve got to take those chances.

“I thought there was nothing in it in the second half and then there’s a cross and a header – which is clearly a foul, I’ve looked at it again – and that changed the feel as well as the scoreline.

“The crowd, who were slightly disgruntled at half-time, changed, and there’s a bit of belief back in them.

“Without being great, they imposed themselves slightly better than us, and we didn’t manage to grip the game like we wanted to in the second half. That can happen. Then their second goal came as we were attacking, and that was the real disappointment – a sloppy goal.

“There were some good things from us, but certainly not enough to win the game.”

Dyche saw the first goal again before speaking to the press, and admitted: “It was one of those things, I always say referees have a tough job, but if I can see it from 70 yards away, it’s fair to say the officials should.

“It’s impossible to jump that high without leverage.”

Missed chances cost Burnley in the derby, and it was a similar scenario at Forest: “We needed to be more clinical with our chances – last week centre-halves were blocking things and the Blackburn keeper made some good saves, and we needed to take our chances here.

“We have been clinical to be fair, but the first goal was a turning point and we could have got it ourselves.

“It was a nearly day, a frustrating one – it could have been so different, but we have to work to make it different.

“There were some good things, but things I wasn’t happy with, and some indifferent individual performances.

“There was no lack of effort, but we are a work in progress, we have good technicians and the framework is getting better, and the belief and energy levels.

“It’s a tough league but we’ll work hard again this week and get ready for the next game.” Burnley again struggled to produce a second half performance to match the first, and Dyche added: “I don’t think we dealt with the ball as well as we should have, especially in the second half, but first half I felt we did and created two or three really good chances with good combinations in the wide areas and plenty of good ammunition into the box.

“Second half we couldn’t stretch the pitch as we had, and that can happen.

“Reacting to the goal was important as well, we nearly did, we just didn’t quite have enough.

“It’s important we understand that you can’t come to these grounds and not play for the full game.”

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