ASHLEY Barnes feels it was typical of the way Burnley’s Premier League season has gone that they were relegated with a win, but said: “We’ll be back!”

The Clarets became the first top flight team of 2014/15 to be consigned to the drop, despite taking three points off struggling Hull for the second time this season, as the results of relegation rivals Sunderland, Leicester, Newcastle and Aston Villa all meant Burnley would not be able to catch them in the final two games.

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Barnes said surrendering 2-0 leads earlier in the season and a run of four straight 1-0 defeats had proved costly in the run-up to Saturday’s win, in which they scored for the first time in more than 10 hours - another factor in their fate being sealed with two games to spare.

But overall the striker feels they have acquitted themselves reasonably well, and says they intend to use the final fixtures to give supporters something to cheer and lay the foundations for a strong recovery next term.

“We battled but it’s a shame it was a little bit too late with relegation now,” he said. “We knew we had to go for it and get the three points and see how the others got on. Unfortunately it didn’t go for us.

“We’ll look back over the season and we’ll kick ourselves for the ones we lost.

“You look back to West Brom and Palace where we should have taken everything and we threw those games away.

“It’s frustrating because you want to be in this league for as long as possible. Unfortunately we’re back to the Championship.

“We’re disappointed. It’s hard to put it into words yet. I’m sure it will sink in over the next day or two.

“Obviously we’re gutted but we’ve just got to bounce back next year.

“It’s a kick in the teeth but if we can win the last two games and give our fans everything to cheer for next season so be it,” added Barnes, who was grateful for the support the team received at the KC Stadium.

“They were fantastic. They never stopped singing and they stayed til the end, which was amazing to see.

“They were singing all game. I don’t think they shut up.

“It put Hull on the back foot and luckily enough it gave us an advantage.

“Unfortunately it just didn’t work out for us. Hopefully we can come back next year and get promoted again.”