BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche praised the way his players dealt with a double injury blow and poor pitch to keep on course for the Premier League with a 3-0 win at struggling Charlton Athletic.

The Clarets were without key men Danny Ings and Kieran Trippier, after both picked up minor injuries in the last two games.

But it was business as usual despite the absence of their top scorer and leading assist maker as an unbeaten Championship run stretched to 15 games.

New signing Chris Baird marked his debut at right back with a clean sheet while Ashley Barnes grabbed his first goal for the club to set them on their way to restoring their 10-point cushion in second place in response to Derby County's lunchtime win over Nottingham Forest.

Sam Vokes took his tally for the season to 20 from the penalty spot early in the second half, after he was fouled by Rhoys Wiggins, while substitute Michael Kightly forced a third in stoppage time.

"It was a very good away performance on what is definitely the worst football pitch I've seen in many years," said Dyche.

"I've played on some horrors in my time but I've never witnessed anything like that at this level.

"We'd seen a couple of previous games and they'd heavily watered it and at least the ball was travelling. There wasn't as much on it today so it was bobbling everywhere. I thought the players adapted to it fantastically well and played really good common sense football.

"They utilised passing in the top third of the pitch when they could.

"We knew we have quality in that area of the pitch and I thought overall they delivered a performance that it needed on that pitch.

"They (Charlton) had just come off the back of two draws and a win. At home they've got a good feelgood factor off their results and I thought they started really brightly, and all credit to them for that.

"But once we got a foothold in the game and started to adapt to the game and the circumstances, particularly the pitch, I thought we looked good value as the game built and we started playing some productive football, and obviously scored goals."