PENALTY hero Tom Heaton believes the Clarets resilience is going to be key in their battle for survival.

Heaton became the first goalkeeper to save a Southampton penalty in the Premier League since April 1997, a run of 29 successive spot kicks.

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It also ended a run of 13 consecutive conversions from 12 yards by Dusan Tadic, and Heaton paid tribute to his analyst Adam Fairclough for the information he gave him before the match.

Heaton’s save on the hour mark proved to be key, with Ashley Barnes scoring the winner 13 minutes later.

“There’s always an element of guessing but to be fair to the analyst every game this season I’ve had a sheet and a video to look through,” explained Heaton.

“Tadic was on that sheet and there was a lot of green dots on that sheet!

“You have an idea of where he likes to go and thankfully it’s landed at the right place. It’s a bit of a lottery, you try and put things in your favour.”

Apart from the save Heaton wasn’t really involved in the game as he kept a fifth clean sheet in 16 Premier League games.

“One thing that has been a factor last season and this again is that we’ve got resilience,” said the former Cardiff City goalkeeper, “Once we get our noses in front we’ve got the belief and the confidence we can hold on with the shape of the team, that goes from back to front really.

“We’re a tough side to break down so if you’ve got something to hold on to you can make it tough for teams.”

The win over Southampton was a third victory in six games for Burnley and moved them out of the relegation zone ahead of QPR’s trip to Everton tonight.

Heaton believes the Clarets are now in with every chance of staying in the Premier League come May.

“We feel it’s a great challenge and a great opportunity,” he said, “everyone is enjoying it and we feel we’ve got a great chance of being successful, which is staying in the league for us.

“If we can keep that defensive framework and keep the ball out of the net we are going to have a great chance of doing that.

“It’s not just the back four, it’s the midfield in front of that. I’ve played in front of back fours that have been excellent but if the midfield goes missing you’re up against it and I think from back to front we have a very good system, everyone knows their job, even the players coming in.

“Danny Lafferty comes in for his first appearance of the season with 10 minutes to go, 1-0 up on a cold, wet, windy night and it’s not easy, fair play to him, he went about it in the right manner, and Michael Keane as well. We’ve got players that come in and do the job.”

After Heaton’s save the match winner was Barnes, who scored in a 1-0 win for the second time this season, and the goalkeeper paid tribute to his teammate.

“It’s great for him to get a goal,” he said. “He puts himself about, I can’t imagine he’s great for a centre half to play against. He’s heading it, he’s after them and then adds a bit of quality. He’s been great.”