TOM Heaton believes Burnley have done themselves justice in the Premier League this season, but ultimately left themselves with “too much to do” to avoid the drop.

The Clarets became the first top flight team of 2014/15 to suffer relegation, closely followed by Queens Park Rangers on the following day, on Sunday.

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Heaton feels their performance in the 1-0 win at Hull City demonstrated their ability to cope at the highest level, even though it proved insufficient to prevent a bottom-three place being confirmed.

Four straight defeats in the run-up to Saturday’s game at the KC Stadium, and six games without scoring, were frustrating factors in their challenge failing with two games to spare.

“We weren’t far away. We were in nearly every game,” said Heaton.

“We’ve competed really well and I think we’ve given it everything we’ve got. It’s just those fine margins.

“Last season we landed the right side of them. Unfortunately this season probably too many times we’ve landed the other side of it, and that can hurt you in football. That’s probably hurt us a little bit this year.

“Our main aim was to get a win and stay in the fight. Unfortunately the other results went against us.

“We scored and held on for the clean sheet. Going away from home and getting a win in the Premier League is obviously a great result.

“It’s just a shame in the circumstances, but in the grand scheme of things we probably gave ourselves too much to do, which is frustrating because we never felt like we were too far off.

“We gave it a great go on Saturday and got a great result. The support again from the fans was incredible.”