Paul Robinson happy about Burnley’s fighting spirit

Football Update: PAUL Robinson admits Burnley’s away record this season has not been acceptable, but he praised the Clarets’ heart and desire for almost nicking a point at Swansea City.

A below-par Burnley were only beaten in injury-time at the Liberty Stadium but Robinson, who deputised in goal for the ill Tom Heaton, said the Clarets hadn’t deserved anything out of the game.

But despite an agonising defeat to the in-form Swans Robinson was full of praise for the spirit once again on display in Sean Dyche’s side as they fought to stay in the game in south Wales.

“It’s always difficult to lose in injury time but I think we lacked in our performance. The stats tell a story and we weren’t quite at it,” the 37-year-old said.

“Being brutally honest I think it was a fair result and I don’t think we deserved to get anything out of the game, but it looked like we were going to do.

“Our away form has not been acceptable and on Saturday we weren’t at the level we wanted to be at.”

The Clarets have now failed to win in 15 away games in league and cup this season.

Having turned in improved displays on the road recently this was a tougher afternoon with Swansea in the ascendency for most of the game.

But two goals from Andre Gray had given Burnley the lead with just under half an hour to go and they were set for a point until Fernando Llorente’s controversial injury-time winner.

Asked if Burnley could take heart from managing to stay in the game for so long, Robinson said: “That goes without saying for our team, that’s what we do, there’s a lot of heart, there’s a lot of desire and there’s a lot of will to win even when things aren’t going our way.

“We still do everything we can to get something out of the game, no matter how we play or how the game goes we try and get something out of the game in some way.

“You can see the lads live and die for the shirt out there. It wasn’t our day but we still nearly got something out of the game.”

Gray’s first goal came via a penalty which was awarded for handball, only for replays to show it was Sam Vokes who handled it, but Llorente’s winner came after he had pushed Ben Mee out of the way.

“We got the penalty which was a fortunate one, but their winning goal at the end was a blatant foul on Ben, there’s two hands and a knee in his back,” said Robinson.

“If the referee hadn’t given us a penalty that shouldn’t have been a penalty then he probably blows for a foul there, I think the reason he didn’t is that he’d given us a penalty that probably wasn’t in the first half.”

Gray’s second goal was a smart turn and finish in the box, and Robinson added: “Andre’s doing well for us leading the line up there and getting goals.

“Two goals away from home you’d like to think that would be enough especially with the solid defensive unit we’ve got.”

Category: Football