GOALKEEPER Lee Grant admitted Burnley’s bitter-sweet night against Aston Villa summed up his season so far, but the former Sheffield Wednesday stopper is hoping his patience pays off this weekend.

After being an almost ever-present in three years at Hillsborough, the summer signing has yet to make his league debut for the Clarets.

He continued to press his case for the gloves in the Carling Cup this week. And although Burnley suffered an agonising extra-time exit at Villa, Grant was one of a number of star performers who deserved more.

But the disappointment of being knocked out at the fourth round stage will no doubt be eased if he keeps his place in the side at unbeaten leaders QPR tomorrow.

“Frustrating is probably not the word. It’s a bit of an understatement,” said the honest goalkeeper, who made an outstanding double save from Nigel Reo-Coker and Barry Bannan in the first half to give the Clarets a platform to truly test Villa, on the back of a clean sheet against Bolton Wanderers in the previous round.

“Fortunately I was given the opportunity to come in and play and I’ve done everything in my power.

“It was nice to be back in the thick of things and getting involved at first team level.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Whether Brian Jensen keeps his status as a Championship ever-present this season or Grant gets his chance is a tough call for manager Brian Laws.

This is arguably the most hotly contested position for his strong squad.

And that’s a situation the eager Grant accepts.

“It’s frustrating not to be involved but you get on with it,” he said.

“We are here to do a job as a team and a unit.

“If the team is playing well and Brian, in particular, is playing well, then I can have no qualms about it.

“You just do what you can do when you get the opportunity.”

Of Wednesday night’s performance, Grant added: “The performance was there and individually, if you go through the team, everyone put in a shift and worked really hard, so there are plenty of positives to take into QPR.

“That’s the big one, and that’s the focus, to make sure we prepare right and go down there and get a great result hopefully.”