SEAN Dyche felt Burnley had been hit by a ‘cruel’ twist of fate in their home loss to Leicester City - but praised Matt Taylor despite the midfielder’s penalty miss.

Taylor stepped up to take a 59th-minute spot kick ahead of Danny Ings after being felled by Paul Konchesky, but he fired his penalty against the outside of the post.

Jamie Vardy then scored the only goal of the game for Leicester only a minute later.

The result leaves Burnley five points adrift of safety with only four games left to play, but Dyche felt his side did not deserve to lose.

“The game is cruel sometimes, and it was at its cruelest today,” he said.

"In the second half I thought we were good. We miss a penalty and they score 60 seconds later from a knock into the box, into a dangerous area, which can cause trouble, and it did.

"It's just the cruel side of football.”

On Taylor’s decision to take the penalty instead of Ings, Dyche said: "He's got a history of taking them, he gets it, grabs the ball. It's a great sign when they do that.

"He struck it well, his heel just shifted as he hit it, so I don't know if he just dragged it a bit.

"He sent the keeper the wrong way, and it's just one of those things.

"It looked to me there was only one person who wanted it, and that was Matty. He gripped the ball, he wanted it, simple as that.

"I’ve got no problem with that.”