Gabbiadini’s late leveller piles on the pain for Dyche

For Sean Dyche, there was only frustration to add to his physical pain. The Burnley manager braved a torn quad muscle, picked up during a training break in Portugal on Tuesday, to take his place in the technical area. Yet his hopes of seeing a two-month winless streak ended were thwarted.

Ashley Barnes’s header looked to have secured a first victory in 11 Premier League matches but Dyche’s team could not see the game out. Twenty seconds from the end of regulation time, Manolo Gabbiadini swept in his first goal since October to give Southampton a scrap of comfort in their relegation fight.

Mauricio Pellegrino may have won only one of his past 15 Premier League matches, but his side have climbed out of the relegation zone for now.

“The draw is almost the same as a win today,” he said. It was easy to understand his jubilation; Southampton did not, for the most part, demonstrate the confidence that carried them into the FA Cup quarter-finals by beating West Brom last weekend, and Pellegrino is all too aware that success in knockout football is only worth so much. His predecessor, Claude Puel, led the club to last season’s EFL Cup final and still lost his job.

Every league point counts, then, and there was an element of fortune about how this one was gained. Burnley had two causes for complaint in the buildup, as referee Bobby Madley accidentally blocked off midfielder Ashley Westwood, and then rejected appeals for a foul on Kevin Long just before Gabbiadini finished Guido Carrillo’s header back from Josh Sims’s cross.

“Our centre-forward is put off balance by their centre-forward, who has his arm across his shirt, and it’s not given,” Dyche said.

“Then you come away a bit disappointed, because you can only control your performance, and we’ve produced a solid enough performance to take the points.”

Burnley were solid but far from spectacular. Injuries have not helped, but they look a long way from the team who briefly and improbably climbed into the Champions League qualification spots by beating Stoke on Dec 12.

Twelve league and cup games have come and gone since then, although Barnes threatened to change that midway through the second half, beating Alex McCarthy to Jeff Hendrick’s header after the goalkeeper had pushed out Johann Gudmundsson’s volley from an Aaron Lennon cross.