BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche praised Kevin Long following his side’s 2-0 defeat against Manchester City at Turf Moor.

With captain Ben Me out injured and Nathan Collins suspended, Long slotted into the defence alongside Jams Tarkowski.

City went in front after just five minutes when Raheem Sterling found Kevin de Bruyne, who fired into the roof of the net.

And the visitors doubled their lead midway through the first half when Ilkay Gundogan volleyed home after more good work by Sterling.

“When they score two early things can change,” said Dyche. “But Kevin Long stepped in, it’s not an easy game to do that, and I thought he did fine so there were some positives out of a tough afternoon.

“It’s always difficult to measure against these. They’re a top side, a top manager, and put together for hundreds of millions of pounds.

“You can beat them, we have beaten teams like that but it’s very, very difficult.

“That doesn’t mean we park it, but this does get parked now. We’ve got 10 games to go, they’re all important games, and they’re all not against Man City.”

The result leaves Sean Dyche’s men 19th in the Premier League table – four points from safety with 10 games still to play.

The Clarets are back in action on Wednesday night when they welcome relegation rivals Everton to Turf Moor (KO 7:30pm).

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