SEAN Dyche insists Burnley have to ‘stick at it’ after the Clarets saw their winless run extended in South Wales.

The 1-0 defeat to Swansea made it 11 games in league and cup without success for Dyche’s side, who haven’t tasted victory since beating Stoke City 1-0 on December 12.

Burnley had started brightly against a Swansea side who have been resurgent under Carlos Carvalhal, but it was the hosts who went searching for the win and they found it through Ki Sung-yueng’s late strike.

Dyche felt his side were a bit ‘huff and puff’ in their attempts to return to winning ways.

“There’s no other thing to say other than we’ve got to stick at it, it’s our job to correct the run, mine as manager and the players, but within that, the margins are so fine,” the Clarets chief said.

“There’s nothing in the game and we arguably had the better chances, without being great. A bit huff and puff, energy, forcing chances at times.

“And they’ve nicked one from a poor clearance from us and drive across the box and it hits two people on the way in. And you think, ‘how can we find one of them?’

“Sometimes it’s as simple as that.

“But you’re playing a team who nine games ago were lacklustre, no energy, no performance level. Nine games later, here they are, the madness of modern football.

“A new manager comes in and all of a sudden they’re running harder, playing harder.”

This was the type of game Burnley were winning earlier in the season on their rise to fourth when they beat Stoke in mid-December.

On Saturday the boot was on the other foot and Dyche added: “I try and call it on a balanced view, and when we were winning, I did say they were tight games, but I think the performances were stronger in general.

“But we had a stronger squad, fully fit. There are no excuses though.

“I think the players are learning, some are maturing into what the Premier League is all about, because some haven’t played that much, but the margins are tight and you have to find a way of getting on the right side of them.”

It was more misery in South Wales for Dyche who admitted his memories of visits to Swansea as a player and a manager were not enjoyable ones.

“My record down here is rubbish, so that doesn’t help,” he said.

“I knew it before the game, you know when you get that thing you can’t shake, and you go ‘forget that’. Every time I’ve ever been to Swansea, as a player, a coach, manager.

“It’s rare for me, I’ve got rid of a load of those, Ipswich, Bolton, Blackburn, really powerful ones, but I’m still waiting to shake this one off.”