STAN Ternent believes Burnley were not hungry enough to bare their teeth and make Millwall suffer.
The Clarets were beaten in the league for the first time in 2004, despite carving out a glut of goalscoring opportunities at the New Den.
Burnley could have been three goals to the good by the time Paul Ifill gave the Lions the lead in the 12th minute. And Burnley had several more chances to draw level before Peter Sweeney put the game beyond the visitors seven minutes after the break.
The Burnley boss said: "I didn't think we played very well by our standards, but in saying that we had six gilt-edged chances to score goals and we spurned every one of them.
"It's more than coincidence and perhaps we are not quite hungry enough to put the ball in the net - I'm not quite sure. We created chances but came away with nothing and if you don't take them, that's what you deserve."
Ternent was also unhappy with the goals his side conceded early in each half. He added: "We gifted them two goals, which I'm disappointed with.
"Mo (Camara) just let their lad run (for the first) when he could have picked him off and for the second one, Ifill has kicked the ball past Mark McGregor on the half way line and I felt the goalkeeper could have come and got that ball.
"But at the moment he seems in a bit of a dream world when I'm talking to him about it, so perhaps he doesn't think so."
There were positives to take from the defeat, with the untried central midfield partnership of Bradley Orr - making his professional debut - and Neil Wood competing well against Dennis Wise and Aussie playmaker Tim Cahill.
And Ternent challenged his entire side to bounce straight back in Tuesday's crucial Turf Moor clash with promotion-chasing West Ham United.
He said: "I though the two young lads in midfield did well. That was Bradley's debut and I thought he did particularly well, but I felt Neil did well also after coming back from injury.
"The players have done fantastically well, but they set their own standards and I feel we fell below them on Saturday. We have two tough matches now and West Ham are next.
"We have 38 points, but that is not going to keep us in the division so we need to win four or five matches, which I am sure we will.
"That would maintain our First Division standard, which would be a good achievement this year in light of what has happened."
Ternent finally made clear his views on the alleged racism aimed in the direction of Clarets defender Mo Camara throughout the 90 minutes, a repeat of a similar situation two weeks ago.
He said: "I felt the crowd abused Mo again, which I think is scandalous. I feel very sorry for Theo (Paphatis) and the Millwall people because they are trying extremely hard to eradicate it, but there is no place for that sort of behaviour.
"I didn't mention in the FA Cup defeat because it might have been down to sour grapes. But I think those people should be surrounded and locked up. That's what I would do with them because it's scandalous."
Asked whether he felt the loud chants were due to the colour of Camara's skin, he replied: "Absolutely. It's racist - of course it's racist. If someone is making monkey chants, what else is it?
"It's a BNP stronghold down here and I know all about it because we have them in Burnley. I don't mind if they want to boo him, that's all right. But you ask me if it's racist and I say monkey chants are racist.
"Then you ask whether it is from a previous game, but the monkey chants were here in the previous match. That is racist in my book, yes."
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