Sean Dyche praised Burnley’s spirit and their ability to stick to their game-plan after playing a Watford side who have become more defensively-minded under Beppe Sannino in his view.

The injury-hit promotion-chasing Clarets looked to be heading for back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season after Troy Deeney fired the Hornets into an early lead. But this was cancelled out by Scott Arfield late on as Burnley increased their cushion in second place to ten points following Queens Park Rangers’ defeat at Bournemouth.

Making his second return to Vicarage Road since being sacked following the Pozzo takeover, the former Hornets boss said: “I didn’t think it was just battling, I thought it was real good quality. After they scored the goal they were pretty defensive minded and they sat off us and we had to find a way of breaking them down and it was difficult because the mentality has changed from last year when it was open and free flowing.

“I think there’s now a more defensive base, certainly the games I’ve seen when we watching to see how we could play them. So I think we stuck with our game-plan really well, didn’t get disappointed by the goal, I always feel this group has got a chance to get something from the game and we’ve done it again, come from a goal down and it’s another valuable point.”

Despite seeing his side increase their advantage in second as they seek to join newly-promoted Leicester City in the Premier League, Dyche’s mantra was unchanged – focus on the next game.

He said: “I just see it as I see it all year. We’ve got a big game Tuesday, that’s been our focus all year. The next game comes around quickly and we’ll be ready for that. We’ll enjoy the moment, whatever that moment is of course, but then we look forward to the ne xt game and our one is Tuesday. We can only take care of what we do and not worry about what everyone else does.”

  • To read Beppe Sannino's thoughts on today's draw, click here.
  • Click here for a report on this afternoon's game.