Birmingham 1-2 Burnley: Reaction from Sean Dyche and Gary Rowett

Burnley manager Sean Dyche praised the goalscoring ability of match-winner Andre Gray in Saturday's narrow 2-1 win at Birmingham.

Gray's opportunism enabled Burnley to increase their unbeaten run to 19 games and move into second place in the Sky Bet Championship table behind Middlesbrough who visit Turf Moor in a vital promotion clash on Tuesday.

Gray, a £6m buy from Brentford, has proved vital for Burnley as he demonstrated against a Birmingham side who have fallen off the play-off pace in recent games.

"Gray's goalscoring record is super," said Dyche. "He deserved to score another against Birmingham

"He is a constant threat. I was a centre half and there is nothing worse than marking a player and keeping him quiet and he then scores.

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"Boyd was excellent. He scored a goal and created the winner for Gray. He was tireless in his work and his quality was outstanding while the response of the team after they equalised was to be admired.

"There is a great belief among the players and there is certainly energy and desire. We are in a good place for a reason. I was very pleased with the way we played."

Burnley had to battle hard for this latest success and it was only the goalscoring skill of Gray which enabled the Clarets to score the winner to set up Tuesday's vital home game against Boro.

Boyd gave Burnley a 31st-minute lead when he capitalised upon a blocked clearance by Birmingham's Maikel Kieftenbeld, only for Jacques Maghoma to deservedly equalise 10 minutes into the second half.

Gray, who had been effectively policed out of the game by Ryan Shotton, struck in the 76th minute.

Blues, who have now lost four of their last five home games, also had the misfortune to lose on-loan Jon Toral for a second booking two minutes from time.

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It was hardly the ending they deserved as they often matched Burnley for commitment and effort with Maghoma and David Cotterill both producing outstanding performances which could have earned a point, Birmingham manager Gary Rowett took the positives from the loss.

"It was frustrating because we were fantastic," Rowett said. "It was a really strong performance at a difficult point of the season against an excellent Burnley side.

"I think if you look at the Championship, it is a game of small margins. Jacques Maghoma had his face kicked off in the penalty box after four minutes. It was a blatant penalty but the referee said he didn't see it.

"Make mistakes against Burnley they punish you. They are a tough side to play against. Probably they are going to be promoted but I thought we were the better team.

"They manage to get results in games they do not play well in. But that is a skill in itself. You have to take your hat off to them."