STEPHEN Ward insists Burnley will maintain an internal focus, despite the chaos surrounding promotion rivals Middlesbrough.

The Championship leaders took advantage of a blank Saturday for Boro by opening up a seven-point gap at the top - one which the in-turmoil Teessiders failed to close in their televised defeat at second bottom Charlton on Sunday.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Manager Aitor Karanka was not involved in the game after a training ground fall-out and walk-out, but resumed first team duties at the Riverside last night.

Third placed Hull were held to a 1-1 draw at home to MK Dons, while Brighton’s scheduled game with Reading did not go ahead because of the Royals’ involvement in the FA Cup.

It made for a good weekend all round for the Clarets.

But Ward stressed they were not concerned with outside influences.

“We concentrate on ourselves. Every game is important. We want to keep performing the way we have been,” said the left back, who scored the opening goal in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Huddersfield Town.

“It’s really pleasing to win, but now we’ll work hard and get ourselves ready for the weekend and a tough game, as every game is in this league, next Saturday.

“It’s an old cliche that gets used throughout the season but we have to take one game at a time.

“It’s really apparent in our dressing room that no-one gets carried away.

“We’re on a good run and we don’t want that run to end. We won’t look any further than next Saturday at Turf Moor.”

Burnley stretched their winning run to six against the Terriers - in a 14-game unbeaten stretch.

Ward’s goal at the John Smith’s Stadium was his first in the Championship for Burnley - and almost a replica of his FA Cup strike against Middlesbrough in January.

“It just fell to me and went in. I was up there to make myself a nuisance and thankfully I got some form of my foot on it and it went in so it was a good start for us,” said the Republic of Ireland international.

Burnley have only dropped two points from winning positions, but Ward said that after being pegged back for a spell by Fulham in their 3-2 win at Craven Cottage last Tuesday they do not take leads for granted.

“On Tuesday night we were disappointed to surrender our lead going into half-time and obviously we reacted well in the second half,” he continued.

“We wanted to make sure we started well (on Saturday) and kept it up and I thought we did in the first half.

“In the second half they had a real go - fair play to them, they came out and put us on the back foot for periods in the second half, but we defended well and it was nice to win. And we could have nicked one or two more in the second half as well.

“It was a great performance from the whole 11 and the lads coming on played a real part.

“Any away win in this league is really hard to come by.

“We’re really happy but it’s time to get ready for the next one.”

For Ward, it is just about keeping up the good work.

“The manager says all the time how we train and how we prepare ourselves is important,” he said. “We train really hard, there’s a real work ethic at the club.

“The boys look strong but we have a good squad and players are coming off the bench affecting games.

“It’s going to take that throughout the next nine games to get to where we want to go.”