SEAN Dyche has expressed his frustration that Burnley’s attempts at fair play went against them once more in Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Everton.

The Clarets currently sit second in the Premier League fair play table, although Dyche had no complaints with his side’s first red card of the season at Goodison Park as Ashley Barnes was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

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The Burnley boss did take issue with a number of decisions made by referee Mike Jones, however, particularly how Kevin Mirallas escaped a red card for a horror challenge on George Boyd.

Boyd’s Clarets team-mates were clearly aggrieved by the challenge, which earned only a yellow card, but did not surround the referee.

Dyche says he is puzzled why the Clarets’ determination to play the game in the right spirit, without diving or dissent towards referees, is working against them.

“I’m just confused,” he said. “From what I’ve gathered, I don’t think fans want to see players surrounding referees.

“We don’t, maybe we should looking at that, because other teams would have done for the Mirallas challenge, without a shadow of a doubt.

“We attempt to not simulate, I haven’t seen too many since I’ve been manager here, and we attempt to not have too many rows with the referee.

“It was very difficult on Saturday but my players didn’t get involved with the referee, and yet you don’t get things.

“So I’m not quite sure, what do you have to do?

“You do it right, you get nothing. You do it wrong and you get something, which is kind of against the principles of the game really.”

Dyche was upset by the decision to award a penalty against David Jones early on, despite his foul on Aaron Lennon appearing to take place just outside the area.

He also felt that Scott Arfield should have had a penalty for Burnley when the midfielder rode a rash challenge inside the box, but did not go down because there was little contact.

Barnes’ first yellow card also came for a wild tackle that made no contact.

Dyche also pointed to a recent game against Swansea when Burnley did not get a penalty after Sam Vokes did not go down when he appeared to be fouled.

Pundits suggested at the time that Vokes should have gone to ground, but Dyche says he will not be ordering his players to do that.

“I don’t teach my players to do that and I don’t speak to them about doing it,” he said.

“If it’s natural and they get touched and they go down, then it’s a penalty.

“But what I’m suggesting is if it’s a penalty it’s a penalty. The ref has to decide.

“If there’s intent to make the challenge and he misses the challenge, then he’s still got to give it.

“If Barnes gets booked for attempting a challenge and missing, then the principle should be the same on the edge of the box.

“We had one the other week with Vokesy who gets grabbed in the box, doesn’t go down, and it doesn’t get given.

“Then you’ve got Ruud Gullit saying he’s naive, he should go down.”

On Mirallas’ challenge, he said: “It’s high and late, I don’t understand how he doesn’t get sent off.

“It’s nothing against him as a person, I must make that clear.

“But it’s impossible you stay on the football pitch for a challenge like that.”