STEVE Cotterill lavished praise on starlet Chris McCann after his Herculean performance for Burnley against Ipswich Town.

The 19-year-old midfielder was used as an emergency centre-half against the Tractor Boys and not only helped his side to keep a clean sheet but managed to strike the killer blow at the other end.

And Cotterill wasn't short of superlatives for the Irish youngster who is realising his huge potential.

He said: "I thought he was immaculate. The only time I've seen him playing centre half was when I first came to the club we had a practice game against the youth team and he played up against Robbie Blake and Ian Moore at the time and he was excellent.

"I got a few strange looks from my coaching staff when I told them but I just thought he could do it and low and behold he didn't let me down and he certainly didn't let himself down.

"Without John McGreal, Wayne Thomas and Steve Foster we've had a young man go in there and, to be fair, I thought he showed tremendous character because Alan Lee's a handful, make no bones about it, and we're absolutely delighted."

McCann and fellow young star Kyle Lafferty are making big strides in the Clarets first team and Cotterill added that they've started making themselves heard in the dressing room.

"Chris and (Kyle) Lafferty are really good young men and they're good around the dressing room," he said.

"When they first came up, they were the butt of the dressing room jokes but it's funny now that they've got their own personalities and they often now start the jokes, which I'm delighted with.

"The older players aren't off the hook with these two around. They're a couple of right jokers and it's great to see a couple of young men mature and they are maturing.

"It's fantastic to have them around. When you get somebody come through your youth system it's excellent."

The win keeps Burnley in third but it closed the gap on leaders Cardiff, next week's opponents, to just two points.

And significance of the win wasn't lost on the Burnley manager.

He said: "They're all big wins. And the longer you're up there, they become bigger.

"To have 31 points on the board at this time of the season is excellent.

"The players have been absolutely first class, I can't speak highly enough of them and they deserve to be where they are."

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