STEVE Stone believes his Burnley youngsters have 'incredible talent and heart' after his reign as Clarets U23 boss started with a win.

Dan Agyei's stoppage time winner handed Burnley a 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest.

The victory leaves the Clarets a point behind leaders Bolton and Stone saw plenty of positives, plus some areas to work on, from the seven-goal thriller at the Tameside Stadium.

“I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly, if I’m honest,” said Stone. “I’ve seen what I thought this team is about.

“It’s got incredible talent, in terms of some ball players, it’s got some incredible heart, in terms of defensive responsibilities, and I think it’s got some naivety which was glaring in all aspects of the game.

“Every single aspect came out, and that’s good because I’ve got a lot to work on.

“I’ve seen similar to that in the few games I’ve watched, but that’s why these are young boys who need to be taught these lessons.

“We’ve already started work on what we are going to try to do and grow very slowly, week by week, month by month, to try and improve them.”

Burnley fell a goal down before Dwight McNeil, Tinashe Chakwana and an Anel Ahmedhodzic own goal put the hosts 3-1 up.

Forest hit back but Agyei's late winner sealed the points for Stone's men.

“What I was pleased with was with the game going away from us, how were they going to deal with it?”said the Clarets boss, a former Forest player.

“It took them a while to find out and it took a change of shape with three in the middle of the park.

“We put Dwight inside there and that changed the game, in terms of our three midfield players are all very good on the ball.

“They still had chances and our goalkeeper (Adam Bruce) made a great save. But I thought we were the better side for the last 25 minutes.”

Stone added: “I have been around footballers a long time and I can sense things pretty quickly, with personalities and what they’re good at and what they’re bad at.

“There were an awful lot of positives to take away, in terms of what’s in that dressing room.

“I sense leadership, strong characters and I sense a team developing.

“You’ve got a team that’s playing for each other and some real counter-attacking talent.”