Eddie Howe felt Burnley deserved more

Burnley fell to a 2-1 defeat at London Road, having gone behind after 135 seconds, before shipping a second six minutes from the break, both to Emile Sinclair.

Keith Treacy pulled one back right on half-time, but Howe’s men couldn’t force an equaliser.

He said: “It’s very frustrating. Again we gave ourselves a tough challenge by conceding so early. The goals we conceded were poor goals again.

“Take those two out of the game, I thought we were by far the better team, created numerous chances and should have won the game.

“But we’re sitting here speaking after a defeat, and it’s hugely frustrating.”

Burnley fell behind to another poor goal after 10 minutes at home to Middlesbrough last week, and Howe added: “We’ve made a habit of conceding early in the last couple of games, and it makes it so difficult for ourselves.

“But I thought some of our passing and moving was excellent, and I thought we looked like a really good attacking side, and bar the two goals, I thought we defended okay as well.

“It was just two lapses in concentration.

“In football there are such small margins between victory and defeat, small things that change games.

“We conceded two poor goals, and then it’s difficult for us at 2-0 down away from home.

“We felt at half-time we could still win the game, and we did have chances in the second half. Their goalkeeper made several good saves.

“That’s just how it’s going for us at the minute and we’ve just got to stick together and keep going through this spell.

“The pleasing thing for me is the players had a go and fought right to the end.

“We were still chasing the game and doing all the right things – it just didn’t fall for us in the end.

“There are a lot of positives to take, whereas last week there was very few.

“From that side of things, it was a better way to lose a game.

“It was a really tough afternoon for us, because on one hand I’m pleased with the performance but it’s another defeat and it hurts greatly.”

Changes had been anticipated after the nature of the defeat against Boro last week, but Howe stuck with the same starting XI, giving them a chance to make amends. He explained: “I was tempted to make changes, but I wanted to give the lads a chance to atone for the performance against Middlesbrough, and also they’re the same players that performed really well against Derby just 14 days before.

“I don’t really think it’s down to team selections, I think it’s down to everybody doing their jobs, and I thought for the majority of the game we did.”

Now it is a case of trying to iron out the defensive errors.

Howe said: “I just said to the players the only way we can do it is what we do in training. It is the only way.

“The work we do with the players is so important.

“We’ve got to make sure our training’s right, what we do and what we tell the players is right. I believe it is.

“I’m sure defensively we’ll improve.”

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