BURNLEY boss Stan Ternent insisted that his side has nothing to fear in the Second Division promotion race after sharing the points with unbeaten leaders Wigan Athletic.

The Clarets were in charge for virtually all of a fiercely contested first half until Simon Haworth cancelled out Andy Payton's opener at the JJB Stadium.

Wigan hit back strongly after their 41st minute equaliser but Burnley deserved the 1-1 draw against a side that is now unbeaten in 19 games since the start of the season.

"We've shown how far we've come since last season, and I don't think we've anything to fear in the league. I feel we are making good progress and that showed again," insisted Ternent.

He added: "We slept in from a throw-in and that cost us dearly but I was pleased with the way we played. It must have been an exciting match to watch and we could have nicked it just at the end.

"We controlled the game, certainly in the first half. Ten minutes before half-time we lost our way a little bit. We had to sustain pressure for the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half, then we gradually got a foothold in the game again and, overall, I think a draw is probably a fair result. "It could have gone either way but I'm happy with the performance and certainly happy not to lose.

"The performance overall was excellent because Wigan are a very good side. So are Burnley, so it made for a very good match."

The Clarets slipped to fifth place in the table and are five points behind the top two of Wigan and Preston. But Ternent is happy with his side's position at this stage of the campaign.

"There's a long way to go. We've got 27 games left, so that's 81 points to play for and we'll get better as we go," he said.

And the Burnley boss also paid tribute to the travelling supporters, who made up almost half of the 11,986 crowd - the highest yet in Wigan's new ground. "The support really needs a mention. They were magnificent again and I'm sure they enjoyed it," Ternent added.

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