SAM Vokes admits he was shocked at the damage his elbow caused to Christopher Schindler, but said the clash had been entirely accidental.

The Burnley striker caught Schindler on the bridge of his nose just minutes after the German had equalised for Huddersfield.

When referee Chris Kavanagh eventually stopped the game there was plenty of blood coming from a wound on Schindler's head and he needed around five minutes treatment before being able to continue.

But Vokes stressed he hadn't meant to elbow the defender and said he had accepted his apology after the clash.

"It was one of those. I was backing in and he happened to be there and I caught him with a stray elbow," he said.

"I apologised to him afterwards, it was nothing intentional. It was just one of those things where you’re up against the centre-half.

"I’ve had plenty of them from the other side. It was just one of those accidental ones.

"He was fine, I spoke to him after. Shake hands after the game and all’s well."

When play was eventually stopped Vokes went to check on Schindler and said he was shocked by what he saw.

"To be honest yes," he said. "I was on the halfway line and I didn’t think it was as bad at the time.

"Obviously when you have an opponent lying down for that amount of time, no one wants to see that. I was glad to see him return back to the pitch."

Vokes had headed the Clarets in front against the Terries with his second goal in as many games, but the visitors took control after that and it was Schindler who eventually popped up to secure a 1-1 draw.

"It was disappointing in the end," Vokes said.

"Taking the lead, I thought we started strong but kind of faded and Huddersfield came on strong, especially in the second half and piled a lot of pressure on.

"I think our defensive performance was strong but at home we need to be stronger than that really and take the game to them, a bit more like we did against Bournemouth a couple of weeks and put that mark on the game, especially at home."