BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche thought his side showed good signs in their 2-2 draw against Wigan Athletic.

The Clarets went 2-0 up after early goals from Jay Rodriguez and Dwight McNeil, as they looked like adding to that total in the first half.

Ex-Burnley Paul Cook's side answered the questions thrown at them as they levelled through Anthony Pilkington and Joe Geldhardt, but Dyche was happy with his side's play, two weeks before Southampton come to town.

"I thought we were excellent the first half an hour, that's kind of getting back to where we want to be, I thought we were very good, very strong in all departments, and then really, we had a bad three minutes, three bad passes and they nick a goal out of nothing, and then we reacted towards the end of the first half and got a grip of it again," Dyche said.

"Second half it's always difficult, both sides changing players, it always changes the feel of it, bit enough to show they're getting sharper and brighter, the technical brightness is coming."

Burnley played the ball around well in the opening half hour; Ashley Barnes, Rodriguez, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and McNeil all linked well.

"We want to find that balance, mix our play, I'm a great believer in how many effective ways you can play, and we're still trying to find that balance," added Dyche.

"It's a constant work in progress, with new signings as well, with Erik coming in and Jay Rod getting an awareness of it, but some good signs.

"Tom (Heaton) unfortunately concedes two, but hardly had much to do.

"Good signs, we've still got two weeks to go, it's more sharpness now, you can tell our lads are fit.

"Its that game sharpness, so we'll use the next couple of games wisely to make sure as many of them have played as much football as they can, before you pick the side to start the season."

Barnes dropped off Rodriguez at times, who also drifted wide, which allowed Gudmundsson to move centrally, and that's the game intelligence that Dyche wants: "It's partly what we do, but partly them working each other out, new players work out who they're playing with and the feel of the group, but there are a few laying down strong markers with their performances, almost picking themselves the way they're going about it.

"So I've been really pleased with them, that's what you want as a manager, in an ideal world you almost want the team to pick itself on form, to look so hungry for what it is, they almost pick themselves.

"So that's a great position to be in, and a few are showing real strong signs."