SEAN Dyche says that Burnley’s superb draw at league leaders Chelsea was reward for their willingness to take the game to the Premier League’s top teams.

The Clarets drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, to follow up another surprise point at Manchester City two months ago.

The result became overshadowed by the furore surrounding Ashley Barnes’ involvement in Nemanja Matic’s red card but Dyche was keen to pay tribute to his players.

Ben Mee’s late header gave Burnley a point, 10 days after they had run Manchester United close at Old Trafford.

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“I felt we deserved a point,” Dyche said.

“You could argue the toss, but the fact is we delivered a good performance at Chelsea and I thought we got what we deserved.

“We’re very pleased with the point and the performance.

“The main thing is the mentality. We don’t want to go and absorb, the plan was not to absorb the game, the game plan was to attack it, be on the front foot and take the game on. Pat Nevin mentioned it in his notes (previewing the match) – that whatever happens this season, you don’t want that horrible feeling of regret, ‘We should have had more of a go’.

“We’ve had a go in every game bar one, Arsenal away, and it didn’t suit us. I thought, ‘No, it doesn’t suit us, so we will be playing on the front foot, we will be taking teams on home and away’. That’s exactly what we’ve done.

“We’ve had other results deemed big ones against Manchester City, coming from 2-0 down, and we should have won at Newcastle.

“We told the players before the season started this would be a tough challenge for us and they’re up for it.

“This helps to build the mentality and belief, that bravery with the ball, taking control of the ball and using it wisely. I thought there were good pockets of that.”