BURNLEY'S dejected players will not be allowed any time to lick their wounds after yesterday's FA Cup exit.

Manager Stan Ternent is still chasing a trip to the Millennium Stadium, and he said: "I prefer to look at the positive side of it, we are making progress.

"We have 13 league games to go, starting at Sheffield United on Wednesday, and a realistic opportunity of getting into the play-offs.

"Maybe we can get to Cardiff that way!

"I am very disappointed but it was not meant to be. Each time you have a set-back you have to grow up and become a man.

"You have to put it to one side and crack on with it. I am still proud of my players."

Despite the positive spin there was no masking the dejection on the faces of everyone connected with the Clarets.

After 29 years without an FA Cup semi-final they fluffed their big chance and missed out on a £1million pay-day in the process.

"We are very disappointed to be knocked out at this late stage but my players have done fantastically well to get where they got to," insisted Ternent.

"We have been playing well but the conditions were very difficult and there were not a lot of chances at either end.

"But home advantage is very significant at this stage of the competition and we have been drawn away in every round.

"Taking everything into account, we have done extremely well, but I'm offering no excuses."

Results at Bramall Lane and St Mary's Stadium would bear out that fact, tight first halves being followed by the home side getting the opening goal that was to prove so vital.

The Clarets boss knows he has a massive task on his hands to lift his players for the run in to the league campaign but he is ready to do it.

"I have to pick my players up, we have got 13 big games to go," he said. "The players are dejected but by the time Wednesday comes around we will be ready to go to Sheffield United.

"It is good to have a game to get this one out of the system and this match is now very important to us. We are in the top part of the league and we shall just have to see how it all pans out.

"But I think, given the financial situation, if you had said at the start of the season that Burnley would reach the last eight of the FA Cup and they would stay in the first division, you would grab that."

After more than 40 years in the game, there was no hiding the hurt the manager felt at seeing his side fail to perform to their ability on the big stage but he was determined to remain focused on the job in hand.

"We have more than a quarter of the season to go and a lot to play for," he repeated.

It was not just the players and staff who were dejected by yesterday's result and display, 4,200 Burnley fans left the ground with their dreams in tatters, much like the balloons that had to be burst at the start of the match.

But Ternent was proud of their efforts as he said: "The fans were absolutely fantastic and they will be as disappointed as we are."

The cup runs have provided ten games, great excitement and much needed finance but they are now history.

What better way could there be for the Burnley boss to get the defeat out of his system than by putting one over on his old rival Neil Warnock at Bramall Lane in 48 hours time.