MICHAEL Duff says he is playing for his Clarets future, despite just signing a new one-year deal.

The 34-year-old has been tied to the club until the summer of 2013 as reward for an impressive campaign at the heart of Burnley’s defence.

The extension will take Duff into his ninth season with the club, after joining from Cheltenham in July 2004 for a fee of just £30,000.

But he insists he cannot take his place in the team next term for granted, and neither can anyone else, as manager Eddie Howe looks to mould a squad capable of challenging for the top six after falling short this year.

“The gaffer’s made it clear he’s already preparing for next season now,” he said.

“People are playing for their places at the start of next season. The gaffer sees these last three games as being as important as the pre-season games, so people are playing for contracts or places or thoughts in the manager’s head for next season.

“There’s professional pride as well.

“There is still quite a lot to play for.”

It is still mathematically possible for 11th placed Burnley to sneak into the top six ahead of tonight’s game at Leicester City (kick-off 7.45pm). But an eight-point gap with only nine to play for has effectively ended their challenge, with teams above them in a better position to make a late bid for the play-offs.

Home form has, uncharacteristically, been their Achilles heel, with Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Coventry City a prime example, after a first-half lead at Turf Moor was cancelled out.

“We can look back at three or four key games and regret leads that we’ve thrown away,” said Duff. “Every team in the league will reflect on games they should have won or drawn.

“The disappointing thing for us is the same thing re-occurred more than two or three times.

“When you look back on a season you can accept it a couple of times, but not for it to happen four, five or six times. That’s the over-riding disappointing thing.”

But the Northern Ireland international has urged Burnley to use the frustration to inspire them to be better next season.

“It’s important that we learn as a team and as a group. It’s important that we take things that have happened to us this season – both positive and negative,” he said.

“We’ve shown how well we can play, and we’ve shown sometimes how naïve we can be. We need to learn that we can beat the best teams in the league, but the most important thing is that when we’re not playing well – because you can’t every week in this league, there are too many games – we need to learn to grind out results, or when we do take a lead scrap out a 1-0.

“We need to learn from those mistakes.”

On a personal note, it has been a good season for Duff. Since recovering from an early knee injury he has become the linchpin of the Clarets’ defence and earned a recall to the Northern Ireland fold under new international manager Michael O’Neill.

“It was a huge surprise. I’d given it up really at the age that I’d got to,” he said.

“But when a new manager comes in, at club level or international level it’s a clean slate for everybody.

“He rang me up and said he wanted to give me an opportunity. I enjoyed the one game, whether there will be any more or not I don’t know, but I enjoyed it.”

Of his new Clarets contract, Duff added: “It was a no-brainer really. They offered me a deal and I quite happily accepted it.

“I’m settled in the area and I’m quite happy to stay.

“I feel I’ve had a decent year this year, personally.

“Obviously it was a bit of a disappointing start with the injury but since then I think my form’s been okay this year.”