DANIEL Lafferty hopes he has done enough to earn a run in the Burnley team after helping the Clarets to a clean sheet on his debut on Sunday.

Lafferty joined Burnley from League of Ireland side Derry in January but needed time to recover from injury and build up match fitness before finally making his first appearance for the first team in the weekend fixture at Cardiff.

The 22-year-old got the nod ahead of Ben Mee at left back for the game and, after the Clarets secured a respectable 0-0 draw in the Welsh capital, he is now keen to retain his place in the side.

Burnley return to action at Ipswich Town tomorrow night before hosting promotion chasers West Ham United on Saturday.

"I don’t know what the manager is thinking but I would like to think the performance has given him some food for thought,” Lafferty said.

“Ben Mee has had the jersey and has done a great job, so I’ll just take it game by game.

“I’ll work my socks off and try to put in as good a performance as possible.

"I will be trying to get involved and get as much game time as possible before the end of the season.

"I have been here for a while so it was nice to get an opportunity and get a taste of what it’s like playing in the Championship.

"I really enjoyed it and I think we put on a good performance.

“I think we tried to do the right things and it was a positive result.

“It was only on Saturday I found out I was playing. I played 60 minutes in the reserves in midweek.

“But once I found out I couldn’t wait to get playing."

Lafferty, who narrowly missed out on a first call-up for the Northern Ireland senior squad last month after his impressive performances with Derry in 2011, hopes to provide a real attacking presence from left back if he remains in the side.

But the clean sheet was his first priority and he believes the Clarets can build on that draw at Cardiff in the next few matches.

“I didn’t get forward as much as I would like to, but it was good to get 90 minutes under my belt," he said.

“It’s the same on the other side with Kieran (Trippier). We’re very attack-minded and I think it worked pretty well.

“The manager likes his full backs to get forward, and I think that’s key in the modern game.

"But as much as we try to play football we try to do the right things at the back.

“That’s something we’ve been lacking in the last two weeks but I thought we were solid.

“I don’t think the centre halves were troubled that much. They seemed pretty comfortable.

“There are a lot of games now and they are coming thick and fast.

“We have to just try to take as many points as we can between now and the end of the season, see where it takes us and see where we end up.

“The manager is really emphasising the style of play he wants, so I think it’s also a bit of a learning curve between now and the end of the season as well, to try to emulate the kind of performances like Sunday at home.

“Our away performances have been better than our home performances.

“We want to play like that on a weekly basis and try to pick up as many points as possible."