POSITIVE thinking from Graham Branch last night helped extend Burnley's unbeaten league run to eight games.

Clarets boss Steve Cotterill revealed he has been urging Branch to shrug off his fragile confidence and believe in his own ability.

And after the emergency striker struck a second equaliser against Coventry City to earn Burnley a 2-2 draw, Cotterill believes Branch will go from strength to strength.

"I told Graham I would rather him fail and be positive, than fail," said Cotterill. "He has shown how positive he can be now and I'm delighted for him

"We have talked about him scoring goals for a while and I thought he had a good game last night.

"He showed plenty of energy up and down the left hand side and the goal is good for him because he is not always the most confident player.

"Graham is 6ft 2in and he can run, but he does need a helping hand now and again and hopefully that goal will do him the world of good."

Burnley made it six draws in seven league games by twice coming from behind against the Sky Blues in a pulsating second half.

Clarets captain Robbie Blake scored a milestone 100th career league goal to cancel out Eddie Johnson's strike, then Branch forced home the second leveller after Graham Barrett looked to have won the game for the visitors.

Cotterill, who congratulated Blake on reaching a century of goals, added: "I suppose it was a well-earned point considering we were behind twice.

"We did things we haven't been renowned for this season and we showed good character, but it was a funny game.

"At one state it was too quiet, the ball was being passed around and it didn't look as though anything would happen.

"All of a sudden they scored and the game came to life. If we had taken our first half chances it was a game we could have won quite comfortably.

"But we have said that a few times now and when you end up chasing a game you have a few hairy moments yourself."

The Clarets now have just a few days to recover before facing their third game in six days at home to Derby County on Friday. Defender Frank Sinclair will be available for the game, despite picking up his fifth booking of the season against City. Sinclair will now miss next Tuesday's Carling Cup tie against Aston Villa under the totting up procedure.