I HAVE had the privilege of playing for both Burnley and Preston North End and both clubs were very good to me, but my heart will always lie at Turf Moor with the Clarets.

That's why I was absolutely delighted to see Burnley get the victory on Friday night and move a step closer to promotion.

Preston had their moments but I never felt the Clarets were in danger.

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They could have scored through George Boyd, who was my man of the match, after four minutes but did go ahead a minute later thanks to Joey Barton's deflected free-kick.

Boyd has been excellent recently, he's really turned his form around in recent weeks. You can tell he's got his confidence back and he was outstanding throughout the whole game on Friday night.

After that goal it was all Burnley and the only surprise was we didn't score more, which made for a nervy ending.

Ben Mee had a header which skimmed the post and then in the second half Andre Gray hit the post and George Boyd hit the bar. We were the better side throughout and it would have been nice to have a bigger lead.

Since Mee moved from left-back to centre back he has been superb. For my money it is between him and Joey Barton for Burnley's player of the season award.

Mee was excellent again on Friday night and his performances in the second half of the season have been high class.

Likewise with Barton and his signing has turned out to be a masterstroke. He is at his best in games like the win over Preston and he has made a real difference to our midfield.

We were on tenterhooks until the final whistle on Friday but that is now 21 games unbeaten and what a run it has been since the defeat to Hull on Boxing Day.

It was made even better by Middlesbrough failing to beat Ipswich at home on Saturday, meaning the Clarets stay top of the Championship on goal difference.

Wins over Queens Park Rangers and Charlton will now see us promoted and I'm still hopeful we can claim the title as well. It would be fully deserved and it would be great to be back amongst the big boys.

We have the edge on goal difference and we have two winnable games to finish, so hopefully we can take advantage of that.

When Burnley take to the pitch against QPR next Monday they will know how Middlesbrough and Brighton have done and what is required of them to get promoted.

Hopefully the Turf Moor crowd can play their part like the travelling fans did on Friday.

It was incredible support from all 5,600 Burnley fans. You could hardly hear yourself think at Deepdale, they were magnificent and all throughout this season they've played their part in the club's success.