JACK Cork admitted all involved in Burnley’s FA Cup win against Peterborough felt they had a point to prove.

The Clarets went in to the game having lost three in a row in the Premier League and struggling for any kind of form.

But against League One Posh, the hosts raced into a three-goal lead inside the first quarter of the game that all but sealed victory.

Cork, captain for the afternoon, was one of three players retained from the New Year’s Day defeat against Aston Villa with boss Sean Dyche making eight changes.

“It's massive. I think everybody had a point to prove,” said the midfielder.

“We've lost a few games recently and the lads who hadn't played wanted to show that they were ready to step in and take their chance.

“Everyone who played today did that, even though it was against a League One team, but Peterborough have got some very good players.

“We wanted to prove that we are better than what we have been recently and we set out from the start to do that.

“The first half against Villa was sloppy and we know we're better than that. We needed to put that right.”

Despite it not being a Premier League game, and the opposition being from two divisions below, Cork believes it was simply important for the Clarets to get themselves back to winning ways with an intimidating run of matches to come, starting at Chelsea on Saturday.

"We needed it. We've had a tough run of games with three losses on the bounce so it was really important to put in a good performance,” he said.

“It was good to start the way we did, we scored some good goals, worked well from open play and it was good to get some confidence back.

“Getting that win makes you feel better about everything.

“We deserved to win in the end. A couple of mistakes have allowed them a couple of goals but, aside from the two goals, we were the better team.”

Cork didn’t mind being one of the recent league starters on cup duty, Danny Drinkwater having been likely to feature only for his loan from Chelsea to come to an end.

“Drinky went back and Jeff [Hendrick] is the only other central midfielder we've got so it was going to be either me or Westy,” said Cork, who was replaced by Ashley Westwood for the final few minutes.

“It's fine, I don't mind playing in these games. It's nice, it was perfect for us to get those recent games out of our head.

“A win is a win and it does help the whole group."