SUPER-SUB Chris McCann said last night's dramatic win over play-off hopefuls West Bromwich Albion was for James O'Connor.

The Burnley midfielder was carried off on a stretcher after a clash of heads with Paul McShane, which resulted in the Baggies defender being harshly sent off.

O'Connor was taken to hospital, where he remained overnight for observation after being knocked unconscious for a couple of minutes.

McCann, who replaced his fellow Dubliner just before half-time, headed in the winner with three minutes to go, after Andy Gray had struck twice to help the Clarets recover from being 2-0 down inside the first seven minutes.

And the 19-year-old said the team was galvanised by O'Connor's horror injury.

"We started off a bit slow in the first half and were 2-0 down before we knew it, but obviously what happened with James gave us that extra bit of motivation and we were determined to come out and prove what we can do," McCann said.

"We came out of the traps fairly quickly in the second half, pegged them back and we're happy for the win.

"If it wasn't for James going off I might not have (had the opportunity). It was a terrible injury and you wouldn't wish that on anyone. But when I came on I tried to do as best I could and influence the game."

Manager Steve Cotterill said he was disappointed with the start his side made but praised the character they showed to recover and earn a late win.

"I think we had done well against the 11 men after eight minutes. I don't know what it is about those first eight minutes, but we have to start being better against teams like West Brom. We didn't do anything that we talked about, or watched on the video.

"We should never have given them the respect we did - and the last thing you do is drop off on Jason Koumas when he has the ball 30 yards out. If you do that it will end up in the back of your net.

"I was really disappointed with that, but after it we deserve an enormous lot of credit for getting back into the game, even with them having 10 men.

"We had to be calculated in what we did and it's an unbelievable win really."

Cotterill added that he hadn't seen any replays of the incident which led to McShane's dismissal just before the break, but insisted that he would support any appeal by West Brom should he deem that, on video evidence, McShane was unfortunate.

"All I can see is a challenge and we are not going to be throwing any accusations around," he said.

"From what I hear it shouldn't be a sending off, but I do know Paul McShane and he is a very honest, committed player. I think his honesty says he didn't deserve to be sent off and if West Brom want to appeal, we will look at it and back their appeal if that's the case."