EXPERIENCED defender Graham Alexander has called for Burnley to be the masters of their own destiny.

The Clarets had the euphoria of inflicting a double dose of capital punishment on Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers quashed by picking up just one point from a possible six against Doncaster Rovers and Barnsley.

Both games were surrounded by controversy, with the Clarets playing bottom club Doncaster with 10 men for an hour following Steven Thompson’s debatable double booking, while Barnsley were awarded a blatantly offside goal in Monday night’s 3-2 win at Oakwell.

But Alexander has warned against self-pity.

“Obviously the Chelsea result was a massive one and we followed it up with another fantastic result at QPR,” said the 37-year-old. “We let it slip a bit in the Doncaster game at home, which we were especially looking to win, but being down to 10 men for an hour you get a good point out of it. If you follow it up with a win at Barnsley then you do look back on it as a good point, but getting beat at Barnsley was a massive disappointment.

“Things conspired against us in both games but sometimes you’ve got to rise above these things and we didn’t do that.

“The second goal, the offside goal, was a big talking point after the game on Monday, but we didn’t maybe do enough ourselves. We gave away a couple of really sloppy goals; we could’ve avoided the player (Jamal Campbell-Ryce) getting the shot off in the first place. So we’ve got to look at ourselves first before we start blaming the referee.

“It was a disappointing goal to concede, but we showed the spirit we’ve got in the squad by really coming back at them and I felt, overall in the game, we deserved something out of it.”

In the end, Barnsley survived an attempted comeback through Martin Paterson’s brace from the bench, and Burnley risked dropping out of the top six if results went against them when the Championship’s midweek programme was completed on Tuesday night.

Draws for nearest rivals Cardiff, Swansea, Preston and Plymouth kept the Clarets in fifth place. But Alexander knows they cannot rely on outside forces as they begin a run of four home games in a fortnight with tomorrow’s visit of Derby County.

“If you’re winning it’s a good run (of games to have) because you get the ball rolling,” he said.

“Obviously tomorrow’s important because we didn’t win our last home game. The results went quite well for us on Tuesday; I expected us to drop out of the play-offs with the teams below us but we managed to stay in fifth position. So if we win tomorrow we know we’ll still be in the play-off positions, which is where we want to stay for a good while yet.”

And the Scotland international believes the visit of Paul Jewell’s rejuvenated side is the right game at the right time for the Clarets.

“I think Derby are a decent team and it should be a good atmosphere. They started the season poorly but they’ve picked up and have been going well of late,” he said.

“I spoke to a couple of lads at Preston because they played them the other night and they said they’re a decent team, so we know it’s going to be a hard game.

“But I think the harder games we play the higher we raise the standards we set ourselves, and hopefully that will be the case tomorrow.”

Manager Owen Coyle is hoping winger Wade Elliott has recovered from a groin injury in time to return to the starting line-up, after being sidelined for the trip to Barnsley, while striker Steven Thompson is available following his one-match suspension.

“Wade’s responded to treatment and I’m hopeful he’ll be able to take part in training (today) and, if he does obviously he’s got a chance of playing on Saturday,” he said.

“It’s good to have Tommo available again and it gives you another addition to the squad and something to look at in terms of an option for the game.

“There are a number of players capable of starting.”