IT has become one of Sean Dyche’s key phrases during the course of this season - the one about being able to look beyond the result and see a future in any given performance.

Although it might sound bizarre to be talking about the future of the 2014/15 campaign when there are only 12 hours of competitive football left of it, there were encouraging signs at St Mary’s that the Clarets have what it takes to extricate themselves from their current plight.

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At no point on Saturday did Burnley’s performance look as though it had ‘relegation’ stamped all the way through it.

On the contrary, only an inspired goalkeeping display from Kelvin Davis and the referee’s refusal to award two stone-wall penalties in the space of five minutes prevented Dyche’s men from going into the break with a healthy lead.

After the game, the manager lamented the ‘poor finishing’ of Danny Ings and Sam Vokes, claiming their efforts were at ‘a good height for the keeper’.

Yet Vokes’ opportunity was a snap-shot and Ings’ blunderbuss would have got the better of most keepers most days.

Less clear-cut was how Roger East managed to miss George Boyd having his foot stood on and Danny Ings receiving a two-handed shove in the back – both nailed-on spot-kicks.

The Clarets have been awarded just a single penalty in 30 league games.

And while Dyche deserves immense credit for asking his players ‘not to simulate’, it isn’t a level playing field when you see other teams’ forwards doing their very best Tom Daley tributes week in, week out.

But back to the relegation battle, and last weekend’s round of results have brought the picture into sharper focus.

Everton’s slender victory over Queen Park Rangers has all but dismissed any fears the Toffees had about slipping into the Championship.

Working on the basis that Leicester look doomed - and it couldn’t happen to a nicer manager - that makes it a five-way fight between Burnley, QPR, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Hull City as to who fills the other two slots in the basement.

It’s much easier said than done, but if Burnley can come out of the other side of their next two fixtures against Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal and still be in touch with the pack, then they will have as good a chance as anyone around them of winning the fight for Premier League survival.