STEVEN Defour is ready to play his part in helping Burnley turn their season around after coming through an hour for the Under-23s on his comeback.

The 30-year-old was playing for the first time since undergoing knee surgery in January and he believes he's not 'too far off' making a return to first team action after an encouraging run out at the Tameside Stadium.

Defour had returned to training at the start of pre-season but has since suffered setbacks with knee and calf injuries.

"You want to help the lads of course, it’s tough to see games and not picking up points," the Belgium midfielder said.

"I’ve been in training for almost two weeks now and getting a game in is a good thing. I will keep on going now.

"I feel like I can play a part at some point, I think I need to work a bit more to go to a full 90 minutes but I don’t think I’m too far off.

It’s just good to be on the pitch, that’s the most important thing."

Defour has been back in Belgium for several weeks working on his rehab, before returning to training at the Barnfield Training Centre a couple of weeks ago.

He was pleased with his performance against Bolton Wanderers' Under-23s as the Clarets ran out 2-0 winners, thanks to goals from Dan Agyei and Dwight McNeil, and the experienced midfielder played his part in helping some of the youngsters through the game.

"In the first 10 minutes I had to get used to the rhythm of the game, because it’s been almost eight months without playing," Defour said.

"But after that I got into the game and I think I played good for a first time.

"I’ve worked on my cardio during rehab, I had a couple of setbacks, knee and calf issues, but when we got it right it’s been good.

"I was always trying to guide the younger players and I think we played a really good game."