STEVE Cotterill felt that Burnley did enough to end their away day hoodoo at Hillsborough The Clarets chief rued three missed headers from Michael Ricketts, Chris McCann and Frank Sinclair that would surely have won the game for his side.

And when in form striker Andy Gray rounded goalkeeper Scott Carson only to see his goalbound effort cleared by last man Frank Simek, Cotterill must have known a first away win since November was not to be.

He said: "It was a hard fought point but we are a little disappointed that we haven't come away with all three.

"We have had three good headers and if any of them are on target they go in.

"Michael, Frank and Chris have all headed the ball yards wide and if they hit the target they score. Andy has then gone around the keeper and only good defending from one of their lads stopped that from being a goal.

"I think all three lads are quietly disappointed they haven't put their headers away and Andy can't do any more. So really, with four gilt-edged chances like that, we are disappointed not to win."

Teenage midfielder McCann missed arguably the best chance, somehow heading wide of a gaping goal from point-blank range with only keeper Scott Carson to beat.

But the Irish rookie, who is currently enjoying his best run in the first team after starting the last eight games, escaped the wrath of his manager ... for now!

"Chris will get away with that one when he's 18, but he might not at 19!" smiled Cotterill.

"I don't know whether he's had a little look at the goalkeeper, but I said to him after the game that I'm a little bit fed up of him getting in the box and getting his head on stuff but not scoring.

"We all know he has a wonderful left foot, but he can do better than he's doing and he will get better in time.

"I want to keep Chris on edge and the more games he plays the tougher he will be going into next year. It's all good experience for the lad and it is really, really nice to have a youth team player in your team. We have high hopes for him in the future."

A second clean sheet in three matches was more cause for optimism after Burnley suffered six straight league defeats during February and March.

But Cotterill felt the strong gusty wind and a firm, bobbly Hillsborough pitch hampered both sides as they went for victories for differing reasons.

The Burnley manager added: "We weren't just solid. We had a lot of the ball and I thought it was a better game than 0-0.

"Both teams tried to win it but it was obviously difficult out there.

"There were 22 lads trying to do their best, but pitches at this time of year are not conducive to good football. There are lots of games called off through waterlogged pitches, but never through the wind and probably, more than anything, footballers don't like it when it's windy.

"Even Alan Mahon, who wants to play football all the time and will only get better for us, found that it's sometimes hard to keep that tight control and use those little threaded passes and cheeky bits.

"So fair play to everyone because both sets of lads did their best to get a win for their respective clubs."