BURNLEY claimed a third straight clean sheet with a hard fought point at Brighton.

The Clarets weren’t at their best on the south coast and they had to ride out plenty of Albion pressure to secure the goalless draw.

They could have made it three successive 1-0 wins when Chris Wood fluffed a chance late on, but Burnley will take a point given the dominance the home side enjoyed in the first half when they missed a penalty, hit the post and had an effort cleared off the line.

After a fairly quiet opening both sides came close in the space of 30 seconds midway through the first half.

First Johann Berg Gudmundsson controlled Scott Arfield’s low cross and fired in a low shot on the turn from 16 yards which Mat Ryan had to stretch to push away.

That only encouraged Albion to pile the pressure on though and from Pascal Gross’ low cross Anthony Knockaert fired a shot against the post.

Knockaert was almost the architect a minute later as from his corner Lewis Dunk’s deflected header was cleared off the line by Phil Bardsley.

It was certainly Albion looking the more likely but it was Murray who fluffed their best chance 10 minutes before the break.

He had just tested Pope with a fizzing half-volley before winning a penalty after a clumsy James Tarkowski challenge, with the Brighton striker going away from goal.

Murray took the responsibility himself but he thrashed his penalty over the crossbar.

Burnley had ridden their luck in the first half but showed little sign of immediate improvement after the break and Murray was inches away from sliding home Knockaert’s shot across goal.

The Clarets were feeding on scraps but Gudmundsson took the direct route when the ball fell to him from a Brighton corner, running at Bruno from inside his own half and seeing a low shot deflected behind to ease some of the pressure.

From that set-piece Tarkowski’s header was hacked off the line by Dale Stephens as it threatened to creep towards goal.

Burnley had steadied the ship and the introduction of Ashley Barnes for Steven Defour almost paid off when Barnes slipped a pass through to Wood, who had broken the offside trap but he tried to loft the ball over the advancing Ryan only for the Australian stopper to get an arm on the effort and ensure it ended all-square.