SEAN Dyche admitted to frustration with referee Lee Mason after he awarded a late penalty that cost Burnley a point against Arsenal.

The Clarets chief was bemused at some of the decisions during the game, but felt it 'probably' was a spot kick, which saw Burnley sink to a third successive injury time defeat against the Gunners.

Despite the disappointment Dyche hailed his side as 'excellent' as they caused Arsene Wenger's side plenty of problems, particularly in an energetic and relentless first half display.

But in the end it counted for nothing as James Tarkowski was penalised for a push on Aaron Ramsey right at the death.

“I thought it was highly unlikely the penalty wasn’t going to get given, at that stage, I think you can all make your conclusions from that, working backwards," Dyche said.

“It’s a tough one, it probably is a penalty, but my point is it was never not going to be given on today’s performance, I can assure you.

“When the ball is four feet over his head, that’s the hardest part, but I need to make it clear, you lay your hands on someone, he goes down - not in a cheating way, because he was nudged - they’re tough calls. But at that stage of the game, you have to be 100%, which I presume the referee was.

“Look, it’s a tough job the referees have, there’s no point me saying too much about it, it’s not going to change today. But there were some frustrations with some of the moments today."

Burnley could easily have been in front at the break after a fine early showing and Dyche was delighted with what he saw from his side.

"I thought we were excellent, the first half in particular, the way we played with the ball and defended against a fine side was really good, really pleasing," the Clarets chief said.

“They had a good first 20 minutes of the second half, which these teams can do, and then we evened it out a bit and got a grip of it again, and started to still try and make chances.

“We kept them to minimal really overall, for a side of that quality, and we had some good moments.

“I think it’s going towards a draw and a big decision, but we’ve had a few of them go against us."

And Dyche felt his side were good for at least a point against the Gunners.

“It’s a tough one, I’m very outcome based and when you don’t get what you want - we went out to win, never mind draw, but you take a draw if it’s going that way," he said.

"When you don’t even get that, you’re frustrated, but I’m not frustrated in the performance or the players, I thought they were terrific against a top class side with top class players.

“We’ve limited them, played our own football, been productive within that, had moments, made the keeper work, and if you come away with a clean sheet, I think everyone would think it’s a deserved point.

“I think we’ve made a good show of that this season, we’ve deserved everything we’ve got, we’ve had a couple of moments of a twist of fate, but generally our performances have warranted what we’ve got.

“I thought today was one that got away, and warranted at least a point.

“They had very few real chances, where our keeper had to work, and that’s a marker in itself against a side who open teams up.

“There were definite signs of us continuing to move forward. But there’s still a long way to go."