NEW Burnley manager Owen Coyle says his players did enough to get his Clarets' career off to a winning start.

Burnley, who played in a pale blue and white striped kit to mark their 125th anniversary, dominated for long periods at home to Stoke City and enjoyed a host of chances, but were held to a 0-0 draw.

Second half substitute Joey Gudjonsson almost made a late breakthrough with two vicious long-range strikes, but goalkeeper Steve Simonsen, who had earlier kept out an Alan Mahon volley, continued to prove unbeatable.

"Fair play to their goalkeeper, I thought he had a couple of big saves in the game," said former St Johnstone manager Coyle, who was appointed last Thursday.

"I think we know Stoke are a big, strong physical side, cause problems for everybody they play, but I thought we kept those problems to really a minimum.

"That's all credit to us - the way we went about the game - and probably on another day I think we'd be sitting here with three points.

"As it was, it's one point, and I couldn't have asked them for any more bar hitting the back of the net.

"I thought we had a nice shape to the team, but above that I think any Burnley fan going home would have looked and thought those players gave every ounce of their effort today', and that's what we're looking to do.

"We'll give that, and then we'll show the quality we've got.

"We did that in spells, some of the play was terrific, culminating in a couple of very good chances. On any other given day those would have hit the back of the net."

He added: "Stoke rode their luck. They'll know they've been in a real hard game.

"That's what we want. I want people coming to play Burnley knowing they're in for a torrid afternoon, and I think we showed that.

"I think there are things we can work on, we're certainly not the finished article but I think we showed a lot of real positives and I've stressed that to the players, to be positive, and they're trying in that final third to be creative. Sometimes it might not come off, but we're here to try to win games, we're here to entertain.

"Mahony came in and was terrific. The save the goalkeeper had off him in the first half was second to none. There was just a real energy.

"People will look and think '0-0' but I thought it was really entertaining, and it should have culminated in winning the match."

Coyle, who revealed midfielder John Spicer was rested after picking up an ankle knock, admitted there were areas of their game that needed work, but added that he was pleased with the tempo.

"The one thing we want to do is move the ball quickly.

"We want to get at people and if it's a quick counter attack then we'll look to try to do it," he said.

"I thought we tried to pop the ball about quickly as well with free kicks and we were inventive.

"On another day David Unsworth might have hit the back of the net with a clever free kick.

"We're not saying we're going to be the be-all and end-all but we're going to try to play the right way.

"Having said that, there's some quality sides in the Championship and you'll not always be allowed to dictate the pace of the game, but it won't always be through lack of effort.

"We'll look to try to win every game, and that's starting (tomorrow) at Watford.

"It's a big, big task but we'll go there and be positive.

"We know there's a couple of things to work on, otherwise I wouldn't have got the job.

"So we'll come in here, try to make inroads to progress and try to turn those draws into wins."