CLARETS defender Chris Brass paid tribute to goalkeeper Paul Crichton after his penalty save at Wigan stretched Burnley's run of unbeaten games into double figures.

Crichton blocked Carl Bradshaw's first-half spot-kick, following a foul by Tom Cowan, and made two other top-drawer saves to secure a 0-0 draw which put a dent in Wigan's play-off hopes.

"I was pleased for Crichts," said Brass. "He's done ever so well with his saves.

" I'm not really sure from where I was whether it was actually a penalty but fair play to him.

"He's done really well over the last few weeks and a lot of the clean sheets have had a lot to do with him."

Burnley have now conceded only one goal in seven-and-a-half hours of football.

And Brass, another key figure in that record, believes that bodes well for the future.

"We are looking very hard to beat now which is a good thing," he said.

"We've had another 0-0 which is another clean sheet. I think in the last 10 games we've had something like six clean sheets.

"If you go through a season and for half of the games you keep clean sheets you've got to be happy."

Burnley's latest show of defiance came despite one enforced defensive change, with Brian Reid successfuly replacing double hernia-victim Steve Davis.

"Steve's been unfortunate with his injury. He's battled through but Brian Reid came in and he slotted in ever so well," added Brass. "It's the system that we've got now. Everybody seems to know what everybody's going to do so it's a case of anybody could come in and you can pull players through."

Burnley killed off any lingering threat of relegation by beating Fulham on Saturday and they are now just one game away from achieving their secondary target of remaining unbeaten until the end of the season. "It's just a case of keeping the momentum going," insisted Brass. "You are absolutely shattered but the Wigan players must have been tired as well. You can't feel sorry for yourselves.

"You've just got to get on with it. We've got another 90 minutes of work to go at Northampton on Saturday then we can put our feet up and rest and come back ready for next season."

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