STEPHEN Ward admits Burnley’s failure to have won away from home in the Premier League this season was not good enough.

The Republic of Ireland left-back said the Clarets’ away day woes were a continuing annoyance to the squad, who feel they have deserved to have got that first win given recent performances.

“It’s annoying more than anything because we feel like we’ve been in games where we should have got that win,” the 31-year-old said.

“There’s a lot of talk from outside about our away form but we know ourselves it’s not good enough not to have picked up a win so far but we don’t approach any games differently and our mentality has been really good over the last couple of weeks.

“If we can put in a similar performance at Sunderland like we have done in the last few away games then we give ourselves a chance of getting that away win finally.”

One area Burnley will be looking to improve on at the Stadium of Light is their concession of late goals at the end of the first and second half.

Georginio Wijnaldum’s equaliser for Liverpool in first half stoppage time was the ninth time this season the Clarets have conceded in the 45th or 90th minute.

“It’s just happening for whatever reason, it’s disappointing because they’re pivotal times in games and it was a big turning point on Sunday,” said Ward.

“We played really well in the first half and we deserved to go 1-0 up but we had that sucker punch at the end of the first half.

“Goals at those times of games are not great and it’s something we’ll work to improve on.”