Sunderland 2 Burnley 1: Laws refuses to accept defeat as players show character

Burnley manager Brian Laws is backing the belief of his players to drag them from the brink of relegation.

Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Sunderland came as a huge blow to the Clarets after they had breathed new life into their Premier League survival with a first away victory of the season at Hull seven days earlier.

However, Laws is refusing to accept their hopes of extending their stay in the top flight are forlorn as he targets victory over Liverpool, Birmingham and Tottenham in their remaining three games.

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He said: "The players have still got a lot of self-belief, and that's the important thing. If it wasn't in evidence, they wouldn't have put in a performance like that in the second half.

"That's the nature of it. We have got to believe what the players believe and what the manager believes, that it is possible, it is still possible.

"People have been writing us off for months, so who cares what people say? It's what we do."

Laws' defiance maybe commendable, but the facts do not make for happy reading.

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Burnley remain four points adrift of safety having played a game more than 17th-placed West Ham, who head for Liverpool tonight, and time is fast running out.

In truth, they were rarely in any danger of reducing that deficit at the Stadium of Light as old friend Steve Bruce's side powered their way into a 2-0 half-time lead and never looked like allowing the visitors back into the game.

Indeed, Bruce saw his team create more than enough chances to have been out of sight by the break.

In the event, they went ahead after 25 minutes when Fraizer Campbell deftly turned Alan Hutton's cross past goalkeeper Brian Jensen, who had earlier pulled off a fine save to deny John Mensah.

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Kenwyne Jones had also struck a post from a tight angle, but strike-partner Darren Bent helped himself to his 24th goal of the season, 23 of them, in the league, four minutes before the break.

Campbell, with the help of a generous offside decision, headed David Meyler's cross back across goal and the England hopeful simply had to tap the ball into the empty net.

Laws was disappointed with his team's first-half display, and although he was happier with their efforts after the break, substitute Steve Thompson's 82nd-minute strike proved little more than consolation.

The manager said: "Had we just been 1-0 down at half-time, you know you are in it and there's still time. But the second goal was a bit of a killer and it really was important in the second half that we came out fighting because they could have dropped their heads and capitulated.

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"The fact is, they went out there and showed the kind of fighting spirit that we are capable of. They showed it last week and that was evident in the second half and it gives you a fighting chance.

"It was a game of two halves, there's no question about it. Unfortunately, we didn't start well in the first half, and that caused the problem."

Laws, who lost striker David Nugent to a tight hamstring before kick-off but hopes to have him back for the Liverpool game, admitted the margins between success and failure have at times been painfully narrow this season, but was refusing to look for excuses.

He said: "There's no point reflecting on the games that we could have won or should have won or should have drawn."