SEAN Dyche has praised his goalkeeper Tom Heaton after his heroics at Southampton, but admitted he expected nothing less from the England international.

Heaton was in fine form on the south coast having passed a fitness test on a minor calf strain he picked up on international duty.

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The 30-year-old produced a world class save in the fifth minute to keep out Charlie Austin’s header and then made several other high quality stops during the afternoon despite seeing his side slip to a 3-1 defeat.

“I reminded a couple of people earlier, he’s an England international you know, he’s got a job to do and he is allowed to do it, and he’s done it very well,” said Dyche.

“Generally speaking, it’s unusual to have to do that much work, we’re opening up, chasing the game, and that can happen.

“They created good chances and Tom has to be right on his guard and played well to make sure it’s a more respectable situation.

“Gordon Banks (pulled off a better save)...Joe Hart the other night...I don’t want to do Tom down, but he’ll get a big head!”

Despite his goalkeeper’s performance Dyche was disappointed with two of the goals the Clarets conceded.

They were twice undone from set pieces, with Austin and Nathan Redmond scoring from corners.

Former Burnley striker Austin was left free to bundle home his first goal from a rebound, while Redmond was in space at the back post to drill home.

It means three of the last four goals the Clarets have conceded, and four of the last seven, have come from set-pieces, but Dyche believes the issues his side suffered at St Mary’s and can be quickly rectified.

“I wasn’t really disappointed (with the chances we gave away) until the first two goals, from two corners,” he said.

“The thing I question most is the set pieces - it’s not like us. two pretty soft ones, a bit of fortune on the first, and the second goes through someone’s legs.

“But generally we dealt with that really well, and I put that down to a one-off because that’s not like us.

“I know we can do better, good planning doesn’t always work. There’s a desire here to go and defend, and I didn’t think we showed that on the two set pieces.

“Ben falls into Vokesy on the first one, so his man gets a free header, and the second goes through Aiden O’Neill’s legs, though it’s a great strike.

“We’re attacking the ball and sometimes it goes in the right slot, but it’s always disappointing as a manager to lose goals to set pieces.”

O’Neill came on for his third Premier League appearance from the bench this season, replacing Steven Defour who suffered a hamstring injury and is a doubt for this weekend’s Turf Moor fixture with Everton.

Defour had only returned from international duty with Belgium on Thursday.

“You can never guarantee that (fatigue after international duty), it’s hard to define, we look at the stats and up against their training load, and it’s hard,” said the Clarets chief.

“I’ve no clue (for Everton).

“That’s not ideal but, on the other hand, it gave young Aiden another chance, he’s 18 and doing a really good job, and maturing nicely. It will do him no harm at all, even in tough circumstances like that.

“It’s part of your growth as a player.”