CLARETS captain Tom Heaton believes Burnley are edging the tight games this season thanks to the experience they picked up two years ago.

Burnley recorded an eighth Premier League win of the campaign against Southampton last weekend thanks to a late strike from Joey Barton.

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That result followed a similar outcome to the narrow win over Middlesbrough on Boxing Day.

And Heaton is happy to see the Clarets turn their form around from two years ago.

In 2014-15 the Clarets won just four times at home in the league, and lost games by a single goal to Leicester, Swansea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

“The manager talked about staying in the game, being tough to break down and not giving anything away. We felt we’d always get a chance and that was a fine example of that,” Heaton said of the win over the Saints.

“We spoke in the week about the togetherness and bond we’ve got in the club and the dressing room. It’s not easy to find and it’s not easy to keep, but we’ve got it in abundance.

“In games where it’s tight, I thought it was a good game tactically, it was on a knife edge, and those are the games where that bond and togetherness really shines through. It was no massive surprise we’ve come out with three points.”

Of the difference to two years ago, Heaton added: “A little bit of experience and a bit more belief once people have been there and done it.

“But it’s fine margins. It’s important you try and keep moving things forward.

“One of the biggest factors in that is the experience. You realise you might need to weather that storm to stay in the game and for someone to pop up and put one in.

“It was all new to us first time around.”

Last weekend’s match-winner Barton has added more top flight experience to the squad after rejoining the club earlier this month on a deal until the end of the season.

The 34-year-old left Turf Moor in the summer to sign a two-year contract with Scottish giants Rangers, but his time at Ibrox came to an abrupt end in November when his contract was terminated after a training ground bust-up.

Heaton admits the Clarets squad were disappointed when one of the linchpins of last year’s Championship success opted for a new challenge, but said now he is back at Turf Moor, having been training at Gawthorpe since his time at Rangers came to an end, he has his return to the club had given everyone in the squad a lift.

“We were all a little disappointed when we left, we understood his reasons of course,” said Heaton of Barton.

“But for what he did for us and how he was around the place it was a loss. To have him back is great, in and around the place he’s been superb, in training he’s been excellent.”

Burnley begin the weekend in the top half of the Premier League and 10 points clear of the bottom three ahead of their trip to Arsenal on Sunday, where they will look to improve on a record of just one point on the road so far this term.

“There’s an awful long way to go. We keep to the manager’s mantra of one game at a time,” said Heaton.

“Looking at the bigger picture, here at Turf Moor it has been outstanding this season. It’s important we maintain that.

“Away from home the last few performances have been better even though results haven’t been there. If we keep putting those performances in we’ll start to get the results.”