MATT Lowton has hailed Nick Pope’s performances since he came into the Clarets side as ‘fantastic’.

The goalkeeper has excelled since replacing the injured Tom Heaton, conceding only once in 324 minutes of Premier League football.

Pope came on in the first half of Burnley’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, when Heaton suffered the dislocated shoulder that will rule him out for several months, and has since kept clean sheets in the draw with Huddersfield and the win at Everton, with the only goal he has shipped coming in the draw with Liverpool at Anfield.

The former Charlton Athletic man hadn’t played a Premier League game until he was pressed into action last month, making only 33 Championship appearances, but Lowton has been impressed.

“I think he’s been fantastic,” he said of the 25-year-old stopper.

“We’ve seen first hand how good he is in training. His shot stopping is phenomenal and in training he’s hard to beat in the small sided games and shooting after training.

“We knew he had the qualities, it was just about coming in and making sure that he wasn’t too nervous.”

Skipper Heaton had been a crucial asset to the Clarets in recent seasons, but his absence hasn’t been felt too greatly thanks to the form of Pope, whose four appearances for the club last term came in cup competitions.

“He’s been A1 since he came in and he’s kept us in games just as Tom did before. It’s great to have someone like him there,” Lowton said.

Pope was thrown in at the deep end when Heaton went down in pain after claiming a high ball during the win over Palace.

But he helped Burnley maintain the clean sheet that secured the three points against the Eagles.

Although Palace were the dominant side chances were few and far between until Pope made a crucial one-on-one save to deny Christian Benteke late on.

Lowton said Pope’s performances on the pitch had simply been a continuation of his training ground form, and praised him for the way he had adapted when thrown into the side.

“It’s especially hard coming in halfway through a game as well,” the full-back said.

“If the injury had occurred in the week then maybe he’d have had a bit of building up to it but to come on in the Palace game as he did - there was the save with Christian (Benteke) when one-on-one - it gets us three points.

“He’s come in and done pretty much what he’s been doing in training which everyone at the club knew he could.”