READING boss Alan Pardew accused Burnley of making it an "ugly game" as the two sides slugged out a drab goalles draw at the Majedski Stadium last night.

The Clarets carved out the only real chance of the night as the foul count easily outstripped the number goal attempts.

And Pardew claimed that his side's perilous position allied to Burnley's approach had killed the game as a spectacle.

He said: "Burnley are going well and they are a strong side and that makes for an ugly game in my opinion.

"It was never going to be pretty because we are struggling.

"They make it an ugly game and that's what it was."

Burrnley certainly failed to click as an attacking force as they struggled to build up any rhythm.

But it takes two to tango and Reading offered precious little as a creative force after the first 15 minutes.

"We didn't get the chance to get it down and fair play to them, they worked very hard and so did we.

"I thought we had one or two chances to nick the game and that's what we needed to do because in our last two or three performances we haven't been at it. "I didn't think they troubled us at all from an attacking mode," Pardew added.

The rookie Royals' boss, who once played under the coaching of Stan Ternent at Crystal Palace and predicted a "no-nonsense approach" from Burnley in his programme notes, also felt John Mullin might have been sent off for a piece of retaliation against Andy Bernal.

"We had exactly the same incident on Saturday with Phil Parkinson and he was sent off. This was almost a carbon-copy, yet he stays on. That's the inconsistency of referees," said Pardew.

However, Ternent defended his players, who went into last night's game with the best disciplinary record in Division Two.

"We are proud of our record. We are competitive without going over the top," said the Clarets boss, who saw Mullin and Dean West pick up Burnley's first cautions in five games.

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