SEAN Dyche said he felt his Burnley side was 'best left alone' on Saturday after going through the entire game without making a sub.

The Clarets chief kept his powder dry on the bench despite the presence of returning top scorer Chris Wood amongst the substitutes.

It was the first time this season Dyche hasn't made a change from the bench and the first time the XI who started have played the full 90 minutes for Burnley since a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the Championship on February 23, 2016.

Dyche admits he was pondering a chance before Ashley Barnes put the Clarets ahead midway through the second half, and once Burnley had the lead he was confident the side would see it.

They would have done but for a stroke of misfortune when referee Bobby Madley got in Ashley Westwood's way in midfield, and while Dyche was frustrated with that decision he was happy with his own decision not to make a change.

“We were wondering which way it was going to go, and we got on the right side of it," the Turf boss said.

"You could feel it, they had a great start second half, for seven or eight minutes, and then we started getting back into the game.

“Then I thought, ‘they’ll see this out’.

“Sometimes it’s best left alone.

“It would have been best left alone because they hardly had much after we scored, there wasn’t a lot in it for their performance, so I was pleased generally with those sort of decisions, it was just the decisions which are out of our control."

Dyche had made two changes to his starting line-up, one tactical as he reverted to 4-4-1-1 and Westwood came in for Vokes, and the other seeing the fit-again Stephen Ward returning in place on Charlie Taylor.

Dyche admitted that was a tough call, with Taylor impressing in Ward's absence for the last couple of months.

But the return of the Republic of Ireland international has only strengthened the competition in the squad, which Dyche is delighted to see.

"The thing with players getting back fit, there’s more competition, and that’s what we want, and that little bit of freshness to the group," he said.

“But I thought the changes worked well."

Dyche could have even more bodies back available for the Turf Moor clash with Everton next weekend.

Burnley are set for another behind closed doors run-out this week which will see the likes of Tom Heaton and Wood add more minutes under their belt, while Dyche is hopeful centre back James Tarkowski will also return for the clash with the Toffees.

“Tarky hopefully will be close by the weekend," Dyche said.

"Woody obviously was on the bench, so there’s another one, and Wardy got through the game unscathed.

“Slowly but surely (they're coming back).

“Obviously we’ve got the long terms, with Robbie (Brady) and Steven (Defour), but other than that people are beginning to get fit again.

“Tom has had a game, he’s back in training, so the group gets deeper and stronger again."