'Different animal' - Scott Parker admission with spin as Burnley lose Leeds United and Sheffield United ground

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Leeds United’s key promotion rivals Burnley have lost ground on the Whites.

Scott Parker made a Burnley admission but with a positive spin after seeing his Clarets side lose ground on Leeds United and Sheffield United in the Championship’s automatic promotion race.

Parker’s third-placed side approached the weekend hot on the heels of top two Sheffield United and Leeds but slipped two points further back as their Saturday afternoon clash at Portsmouth ended in yet another goalless draw.

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Speaking post match, Parker admitted his Clarets were not at their best yet put a positive spin on the outcome in saluting the draw as a good point as he labelled fifth-bottom Portsmouth a “different animal” at Fratton Park.

The result leaves Burnley five points behind table-toppers Leeds and three adrift of the second-placed Blades ahead of next Thursday evening’s clash against Oxford United at Turf Moor.

Speaking post-match and as quoted by the Burnley Express, Parker said of the Pompey draw: “It’s a difficult place to come.

“I think you’ve seen that with their results over the last few weeks, Middlesbrough come here and lose 2-1, they beat Stoke 3-1, Coventry 4-1.

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“You probably could see it the way they play. They're a different animal at home. You're under pressure constantly in terms of a real intent in the way they play and we had to stand up to that.

“I think that's the one positive really, because this game could have looked awfully a lot different if we didn't have that resilience of ours. On the flip side, I think it's fair to say we weren’t at our best today. We just lacked a little something.”

Parker added: “They play a way that causes you a problem, so it was difficult. To try and get control in the game proved pretty difficult for us and at that point it comes down to duels, first contacts and we just lacked a little something today.

“We're normally crisp but we weren’t very good in that phase in our game. We couldn't really gain any sort of control and that was down to them to be honest with you, so full credit to them. That wasn’t just solely down to us.

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“They put us under a lot of pressure which meant we couldn't really get our foot on the ball. So yes, it's a good point in the end and we'll move on now. We've got a big game now on Tuesday [Oxford United] and we'll look forward to that.”

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