STEP by step, point by point, Burnley are edging closer to another season of Premier League football.

Written off at the start of the campaign, the Clarets are now eight points clear of the bottom three with six games to go. Survival beckons.

Having feared being dragged into a relegation battle a week ago Sean Dyche’s side have taken four points in a week to put what is almost certain to be enough ground between themselves and those sides, such as Middlesbrough, who are scrapping for their lives.

A point at the Riverside on Saturday was far more valuable to Burnley than it was for Boro, who now appear doomed to make an immediate return to the Championship.

There’s no such fears for the Clarets. Last season’s second tier champions are close to having the cigars out.

Of course we know there will be no let up once the job is done. The squad have already spoken about targeting a top half finish and you can’t imagine standards could slip once safety is secure under Dyche.

And they will be desperate to land that elusive first away win of the season.

Six teams in the Premier League era have gone through a season without winning on the road, and while two of those still stayed up, the Clarets don’t want to be the seventh.

There’s been improvements away from home and this stalemate was a third draw in five away league games. But still there’s been no victory for those superb travelling fans, who were excellent in the Teesside sunshine, to savour.

Those who have made the three trips to the north east since the turn of the year, for two clashes with Sunderland and this game with Boro, have now seen 270 minutes of football without any side troubling the scorers.

Both had chances on Saturday, with Burnley’s the better, while Middlesbrough slowly cast off the shackles as their need became greater.

But it was a ninth clean sheet of the season for the Clarets superb defence and goalkeeper.

Robbie Brady returned to the starting line-up and turned in his best performance since his record move from Norwich City.

On 13 minutes he was a whisker away from giving Burnley the lead, clipping the crossbar with a trademark free-kick.

While Boro were seeing plenty of the ball in the first half they could find no way through the Clarets’ back four, and George Boyd wasted a good chance when he drilled wide after finding space inside the area to collect Matt Lowton’s cross.

Stephen Ward was getting joy down the left for Burnley and he collected a Jeff Hendrick pass early in the second half and skipped past Antonio Barragan before cutting back for Brady, via an Ashley Barnes step over, only for his Ireland colleague to curl a shot wide from the edge of the box.

Heaton’s saves were pretty much all regulation for most of the game apart from a magnificent stop to deny substitute Alvaro Negredo, whose overhead kick from a Downing cross looked goalbound until the Burnley captain flung himself low to his left to keep it out.

Sam Vokes saw a golden chance to win it come and go after more good work by Ward down the left, with the Wales striker getting a shot away from six yards which was blocked by a combination of Bernardo and Victor Valdes.

There was still time for Boro to twice go close in the final moments. Downing’s free-kick was headed off the line by the backtracking Matt Lowton, who repeated the trick from the resulting corner to keep Daniel Ayala’s header out and secure his side another valuable point.