BURNLEY captain Tom Heaton believes the form of the Championship’s top three teams will see the promotion race go down to the final day of the season.

The Clarets could secure promotion with a game to spare this season if they beat Queens Park Rangers on Bank Holiday Monday and both Middlesbrough and Brighton fail to win, against Ipswich and Derby respectively.

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All three teams are locked on 87 points at the top, with just three goals separating them, but with Brighton travelling to the Riverside to face Middlesbrough on the final day it gives Burnley a slight advantage.

Two years ago Heaton was a key member of the Clarets squad which secured promotion with three games to go, but the battle for the Premier League is proving much tighter this time around.

“It’s certainly looking like that (going down to the last game), all three teams have been on good runs, all very good sides, and it’s going to go right to the wire,” said Heaton “We’re all human but I try not to look at what the other teams are doing, the most important thing is the focus remains on what we do.

“We had a tough test with them playing twice before we did, but we stood up to that really well, because it can be tough.

“But that was a good reminder to focus on what we’re about, and we did that in a tough game at Birmingham.”

That victory at Birmingham after the Clarets had dropped to third in the league for the first time since mid-February was another example of Burnley’s never-say-die attitude, or the 'strong jaw' that Sean Dyche refers to, a phrase first coined for this side by Ian Holloway.

It was also in evidence with the late equalisers against promotion rivals Brighton and Boro, and Heaton believes it will be on show again if it is required against QPR or already-relegated Charlton on the final day of the season.

“I think that (never-say-die attitude) has been evident all through my time with the club, and I think it’s building and getting stronger and stronger,” said the 30-year-old.

“The manager mentioned it numerous times, that strong jaw, we go behind in games and things don’t go our way – it’s part of football, part of sport, and it can be difficult to cope, but one thing about the character in the dressing room is we’re able to do that.

“We may have to use it again and we’ll make sure we do if needed.”

Heaton is one clean sheet away from matching the 19 he kept in the promotion campaign of 2013/14 and Ben Mee took some praise for the defence on Tuesday night when he won six separate player of the year awards from Burnley supporters clubs.

“The defensive unit is the full team. We defend from the front, we’re tough to play against,” said Heaton.

“In tight games when things aren’t quite going our way, we can use that, box on the back foot if you like., and that’s part and parcel of how we go about it.

“Its very good to be able to lean on that”