BURNLEY were held to a third successive goalless draw as they could not find a breakthrough against Sunderland at Turf Moor.

Substitute Ashley Barnes saw his late deflected effort strike the crossbar but the visitors also hit the woodwork in the closing stages as Patrick van Aanholt’s 30-yard shot hit the post.

Kieran Trippier had an early shot saved for the Clarets before Marvin Sordell could not get a proper connection on the ball when he might have scored from Lukas Jutkiewicz’s cutback.

Jutkiewicz then saw a deflected shot saved by Vito Mannone before Tom Heaton made a comfortable stop from Emanuele Giaccherini at the other end.

Good interplay between George Boyd and David Jones saw the latter fire straight at Mannone for Burnley, before Jack Rodwell’s header was saved for the visitors.

Santiago Vergini then nodded just wide but Jutkiewicz forced another save from Mannone with a stinging long-range shot before half time.

After the interval Heaton needed two attempts to gather a similarly venomous effort from outside the box from Rodwell.

Rodwell then had a header saved by Heaton and Connor Wickham fired a shot just wide as Sunderland started to get on top.

But Burnley came close when Scott Arfield’s angled effort was saved as it looked like it might sneak in at the near post, and the Clarets then had an appeal for a penalty turned down when Jutkiewicz went down under Giaccherini’s challenge.

Jutkiewicz had an effort saved by Mannone after he had escaped John O’Shea, before the striker came close again with a shot wide on the turn.

The Clarets were within a whisker of claiming victory in the final five minutes as Barnes collected Arfield’s pass and saw his shot deflect up over Mannone before dropping on to the bar.

But Sunderland similarly went close when Van Aanholt fired in a 30-yard effort that hit the post and then struck Heaton on the back before going just wide.

Neither side could find a winner, as Burnley’s search for their first victory of the season goes on.

Burnley: Tom Heaton; Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee; Scott Arfield, Dean Marney, David Jones (Ross Wallace 85), George Boyd (Steven Reid 90); Marvin Sordell (Ashley Barnes 62), Lukas Jutkiewicz. Subs not used: Matt Gilks, Michael Keane, Stephen Ward, Michael Kightly.

Sunderland: Vito Mannone; Santiago Vergini, John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Patrick van Aanholt; Lee Cattermole; Seb Larsson (Jordi Gomez 67), Emanuele Giaccherini (Will Buckley 72), Jack Rodwell, Adam Johnson (Jozy Altidore 67); Connor Wickham. Subs not used: Costel Pantilimon, Billy Jones, Liam Bridcutt, Danny Graham.

Referee: Anthony Taylor.

Attendance: 20,026.