MIDFIELD enforcer James O'Connor believes Burnley's resolve will steer them back to their best.

The Dubliner admits recent performances have belied their 14-game winless streak in the Championship, most notably in their 1-0 home defeat against Leicester last week.

O'Connor is at a loss to explain how the Clarets' wretched run has stretched to three months.

But, particularly after a valiant performance at Colchester led to a clean sheet and a point, the 27-year-old feels a sought-after win will not elude them for much longer.

"We're all sort of scratching our heads because a lot of the performances have been good and we've come away with nothing," he said.

"The Leicester game summed it up for me. We've absolutely dominated the game from start to finish, and never in your wildest dreams would you think Leicester would win the game, but we came off the pitch beaten.

"It's totally bewildering, and that is what was great about the result at Colchester, the fact the players still believe that even though we did get beat, we didn't let it affect us there.

"It can be soul destroying, but that's where the manager and staff have been very good.

"They realise that obviously we were very unlucky the other night, and they're doing a good job in getting the players to stick together and keep believing.

"We can definitely take heart from the point at Colchester, like we took heart from our performance against Leicester last Tuesday, although we were bitterly disappointed with the way the result went for us."

O'Connor pointed to Andy Gray's absence through injury as one reason for their dip in form, while he acknowledged the January signings needed time to settle into their new environment. But he believes the management and backroom staff have played a vital role in keeping spirits high in the camp through difficult periods.

"The one good thing that's shone through for me is, even though it's been a terrible run, everybody - the manager, the staff, the players, everybody - we've kept fighting and kept believing that it's going to come," he said.

"You can see the effort and endeavour out there (on Saturday). Everyone's right behind us.

"I don't want to tempt fate and say we're starting to turn the corner, but it's a good point.

"We played well against Leicester and were very unlucky not to get a result, but this is a good point and we'll just look to Crystal Palace now."

He added: "We haven't become bad players, and, in my opinion, we haven't become a bad team.

"I think we've been unlucky with Andy Gray's injury, and there have been a few games where perhaps we haven't quite got the rub of the green, and I think then confidence has been affected.

"It's also taken a couple of the new players coming in time to get into the way we play, the way we close down as a team.

"To bed in maybe one player, you can get away with, but when you're bedding in a couple, you need to give them time to adapt, and I think that's what we're going through at the moment.

"But at the start of the season we were flying, and I don't think the team has become a bad team.

"It's a case of perhaps tweaking the mentality."

And the former Stoke and West Brom midfielder, who made his 100th league appearance for the Clarets at Colchester on Saturday almost two years after arriving at Turf Moor, believes the squad continues to grow in strength.

"Undoubtedly we're a better side from when I first signed," he said.

"If you look at the squad we have now to the squad we had then, we've got some top players and, as I said, we've been a little bit unlucky with a few things, but we're seeing signs we're coming out of it now, and hopefully we can kick on and get stuck into Palace."