STEVEN Defour has his confidence back after making his long-awaited Clarets return in the Carabao Cup.

Seeing the Belgian midfielder come through 70 minutes at the Pirelli Stadium was the high point on another night of cup misery for Burnley, who were dumped out by Burton Albion.

Defour hadn't played for the Clarets since January 20 and having recovered from knee surgery in time for the start of pre-season the 30-year-old has since endured a frustrating spell with a series of setbacks.

But having played for the Under-23s last week the fan favourite was back in first team action against the League One side and after such a long time out he was enjoying being back on the big stage.

"That’s the first thing you’re looking for, to get your rhythm back and your enjoyment back," Defour said.

"You know at some point you’re going to have difficulties because you’ve not played for eight months, but it felt great.

"I have my confidence back and my touches back which is what I was looking for.

"I enjoyed the competitive part. The first 15 minutes I played good then the next 20 were a bit weird, I couldn’t get hold of the ball. Then the end of the first half was really good again.

"I had some good movement, some good passes forward. Personally it was a good feeling but we should have finished the game earlier."

Defour picked up a calf injury on the pre-season training camp in Cork, resulting in him flying home early, and since then has been fighting the long battle to get back to fitness.

"It was bad because the last few months I had a setback and then every time we had to step up the rehab we couldn’t because there was a problem and we couldn’t figure out what it was," he said.

"I’ve waited so long for this. It’s been a really frustrating few months, but I started on Tuesday and enjoyed myself."

Defour's injury problems meant he missed all of Burnley's Europa League run. His experience in that competition and in the Champions League could have been invaluable to the Clarets and he was disappointed to miss out on a moment of history for the club.

"It was disappointing because it was with Burnley and it was the first time in a long, long time, but I’ve played it before so the disappointment is a bit less," he said.

"I missed out on the World Cup, but I’ve played a World Cup before so the feeling was a little bit less. You still want to be part of it but I’m only looking forward now."

Defour has also had to sit and watch as Burnley have gone through a difficult start to the Premier League campaign, eased slightly with Saturday's 4-0 win over Bournemouth.

"If you see the game at Southampton, we have to win, Watford first half we have to score goals, then you have those weird games when you get the goals but you don’t see the real Burnley so people start to doubt us," he said.

"We continue to work and against Bournemouth it was there again. Now we have to continue that, the lads are in a good place now so we have to build on that."

Defour is now ready to play his part in the Premier League for the Clarets, perhaps starting against Cardiff City on Sunday.

"I’m getting closer, I can play my part. It’s up to the gaffer and to me how I feel in the next few days," he added.