STAN Ternent paid tribute to the Clarets defence as they recorded their sixth clean sheet of the season to set up a vital win at Cambridge last night.

Andy Cooke scored after just five minutes and after that there was no way back for a Cambridge side that had scored 16 times at home before running into Burnley's claret and blue barrier.

The 1-0 victory lifted Burnley one place to fifth in the table, while dumping the U's back in the relegation zone. And boss Ternent said: "All credit to the full team really , but I thought Steve Davis and Mitchell Thomas and the back lads were magnificent when they had to be.

"As a unit we played particularly well. I think we deserved to win the match. It was a bit of a helter-skelter of a game and we had to defend well at times but overall I think we fully deserved our three points."

Thomas was again a tower of strength as Burnley recorded a welcome win after picking up three draws in their last four games.

"It was very important," Thomas admitted. "I wouldn't say we were disappointed at Millwall because it was a good point. But it was good to get back to winning ways after Saturday's game."

And the result kept Burnley in the thick of the promotion action on a night when the top six teams all won.

Thomas added: "If you look at the two games we had at home recently swe were looking to win them and we drew one and we lost one.

"But we were quite solid at Millwall and last night we kept a clean sheet which was great news for the back four and the whole team.

"We had drawn a couple of games and lost that one and last night we showed our strength and our character to get a 1-0 win."

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