MICHAEL Keane believes he and his Burnley team-mates have to be quicker to learn lessons from defeat after throwing away a two-goal lead twice in the space of four days.

After exiting the FA Cup at the hands of Tottenham, the Clarets lost vital ground in the battle for survival in the Premier League when Crystal Palace fought back to take all three points at Turf Moor.

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Both matches followed a similar pattern, with Sean Dyche’s side racing into a 2-0 lead, only to make mistakes defensively which allowed their opponents back into the game.

While going out of the FA Cup wasn’t a disaster for Burnley, losing a game they had started so well to a rival at the bottom of the Premier League could come back to haunt them.

Keane played in both matches and said they had failed to learn the lessons from defeat at White Hart Lane quickly enough, something which they must improve on if they are to stand a chance of Premier League safety come the end of May.

Until last week Burnley hadn’t thrown away a two-goal advantage in any of Sean Dyche’s 108 games in charge.

“We are normally comfortable in those positions but it happened in mid-week and we need to learn our lessons from these,” said Keane.

“We haven’t learned quickly enough and it’s happened again on Saturday so we missed the chance to put some more points on the board.

“We are normally quite solid at the back with our shape but we weren’t ourselves and we got punished for it.”

Keane has started Burnley’s last 12 games, forcing his way into the side following the injury to Michael Duff in the win at Stoke.

His impressive performances saw Dyche make the 22-year-old’s loan move permanent earlier this month, and Keane has backed his team-mates to once again show the character they have displayed on numerous occasions this season, as they to look put this defeat behind them and prepare for another crucial fixture at Sunderland a week on Saturday.

“The lads have been playing really well,” said the former Manchester United youngster.

“We have got a break now so we’ve got a couple of weeks to get over it and make sure we are ready to go for Sunderland.

“The squad is not short of character. We are disappointed but we will get over it pretty quickly and make sure we are ready to go in two weeks’ time.

“It’s not nice to have to come back from a defeat but we have done it before. The team didn’t win for 10 or so games and that’s more damaging than losing one game.

“The team has showed we have got the spirit to come back and I’m sure we will.”

The fixture at the Stadium of Light in 12 days time is the third of four successive league fixtures that see the Clarets take on other sides battling against relegation.

Burnley would have gone 12th with a win over Palace, but instead remained 17th, showing how tight the table is at the bottom.

“It’s going to be tight all the way through the season and we will have to keep fighting to the end and hopefully it falls our way,” said Keane.