TOM Heaton admitted the positive reaction by the Burnley fans at the final whistle at Hull City left the players believing they had taken their fight to the penultimate weekend.

The travelling army of Clarets fans were in fine voice throughout the 1-0 win at the KC Stadium, and on their feet at the final whistle, despite confirmation that their Premier League return had been short-lived.

Every player gathered to reciprocate the applause. There was mutual appreciation. And at that point Heaton revealed he thought their top flight dream was still alive.

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I thought we’d taken it to another week,” he said.

“Not knowing the other results I wasn’t aware how everyone else had got on and the reaction of the fans was superb.

“But I went down the tunnel and heard that everyone else had won.

“It was one of those things unfortunately.

“We did what we needed to do that day, we couldn’t do any more in the situation that we were in.

“I hadn’t even made it to the dressing room before someone had told me. I wasn’t sure if they were winding me up.”

For every result to go against them was typical of the hard-luck stories that the Clarets have experienced this season.

Other recent examples include wrongly having a man sent off in the first half of their 1-0 defeat at West Ham.

But Burnley are not bitter. Heaton insists that, instead, they will be better for their experiences - good and bad - and they are hungry for more.

“I always had the desire to get to the Premier League,” said the goalkeeper, who took a step back in leaving Manchester United five years ago to move forward with Burnley, via Cardiff and Bristol City.

“It was always the ambition going back to leaving Manchester United, although it felt a long way away at certain times.

“Once you get the taste for it you can see why it’s one of, if not, the best league in the world.

“That hunger’s greater now than what it was before. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and I’ve got a big motivation to get back there.

“We certainly gave it a good go but when we do look back at it I’m sure there are areas where we feel it could’ve gone differently. But it is what is is and we have been relegated.”

In hindsight, would he have done anything differently?

“I’d try and stop a few more goals to be honest!” he said. “Every team in the country can look back and think ‘what if?’ The important thing to try and do is to affect it while it’s happening. I’m a big believer in learning from things as best you can but you’ve also got to be able to shut the door on it as well.

“You can’t go back and change it so if you’re not careful it can almost eat you alive.

“It’s been fantastic and certainly given me the ambition to get back there.”

Heaton believes that would be a fitting reward for the fans.

“They’ve been fantastic. I’ve been impressed. The travelling support to away games has been incredible,” said the 29-year-old.

“I’ve been at teams relegated in the past and it can be tough for fans. They want to see performances and results but the support’s been unrelenting. Probably one of the highlights for me was the away support at Hull.

“I’m sure most of the fans knew the situation as well, whereas on the pitch, well I didn’t know at the time.

“But you would never tell that, listening to them at the end of the game.”