SEAN Dyche praised the mentality of his Burnley side as they hit back from an early setback to earn a point against Premier League leaders Chelsea.

The Clarets were behind early on against Antonio Conte’s side but they steadied the ship and responded well as the first half wore on before Robbie Brady’s equaliser.

Both sides played some excellent football in a evenly matched contest at Turf Moor and Dyche was delighted with the performance of his side in making it eight unbeaten at home in all competitions.

"I think they are top class, without a shadow of a doubt, not just with where they are in the league table - there were pockets of their play that were excellent,” Dyche said of Chelsea.

"Within that, you can use it as a guideline that we've moved forward, and I've spoken about that a lot, the growth in the side is the term I use.

"I think there's something that comes with experience, of being more assured, and the team looks more assured.

"You are playing against the top end of the market, so I was really pleased, and with the mentality as well.

"It all has to glue a team together, and we have a lot of that, the glue that holds a team together, and I've been really pleased with that.”

He added: "We've got a resilience and relentlessness to us, everyone knows about that, and I'm pleased that paid them back.

"We kept doing the right things, even after their goal, it didn't give us a knock, we got back to task straight away.

"The first 20 minutes we didn't quite get to grips with their shape, and once we dropped the centre forwards off a bit, to help our midfield out, our shape was really good.

"By the end, I think they had two shots on target after the goal.

"We created two very good chances, so overall it was a strong show against a top, top side.”

Burnley had two good chances to win the match, with Thibaut Courtois denying Matt Lowton and Andre Gray, but Dyche felt a point was a fair result.

"We created enough where you might get a chance to nick it, but they're a top class side and to get a draw is probably about right,” said the Clarets chief.

“We had a golden chance with Matt Lowton where their keeper makes a good save, Andre's is a decent chance, but it's coming across at a difficult angle, but I was pleased with the mentality, organisation and some of the individual performances.”

Brady marked his first start for Burnley with a stunning equaliser and Dyche was also pleased with fellow full debutant Ashley Westwood.

"A fantastic goal, a sublime goal, against a top class goalkeeper who's a giant of a man,” he said.

"I thought Westy as well, it isn't easy, when you've just signed at a club, getting a feel of how that team works, and it's not easy to go into.

"The two of them held their own in a tough game, and for the subs, it's a really tight game to go into, and again, the framework of the team - the players on the bench know how we operate and that's important.

"I think Robbie's adapting, he'll learn a lot from today, although Chelsea play a different format, a 3-4-3, with the two wide men coming into the hole, and that can be hard for wide players to play against.”