TOM Heaton welcomed “a big point” in his first game as Burnley captain, and revealed his pride at being handed the role.

Clarets boss Sean Dyche had been looking for a new skipper following the departure of Jason Shackell last month.

Michael Duff and Ben Mee both wore the armband in pre-season, but it was goalkeeper Heaton who Dyche approached on the eve of the season and asked to take on the role full-time.

“It’s brilliant. I’m very proud of that and honoured, it’s a responsibility I’m looking forward to,” said the stopper, after Saturday’s opening day 1-1 draw at Leeds United.

“I’m pleased the manager’s given it to me. He only mentioned it to me on Friday and I said ‘yes’ straight away.

“It’s a first for me and I’m looking forward to it.

“All you can do is give it your all and I’m certainly looking forward to doing that.

“It was a little bit of a surprise having not had it during the season, but I’m absolutely made up and I’ll try to do the job some justice.”

Dyche explained it was not a complicated process, saying: “I said, ‘Do you want to be captain?’ and he said ‘Yeah’.

“Deadly serious. I don’t overthink it. I want everyone to play like a captain, it’s only an armband.

“He conducts himself professionally, he’s very well thought of at the club, he’s a bit of a go-to man, very sensible and articulate.”

Of other candidates, Dyche added: “You’ve got Duffo (Michael Duff), Keano (Michael Keane) growing into his role, Jonah (David Jones) who’s been around.”

It is unusual for a goalkeeper to captain a side, but Heaton does not see any drawbacks.

“We expect communication and tactical ideas shared throughout the team with everyone really, that’s not necessarily solely the captain’s role,” he said.

“We’ve certainly got leaders out there so I don’t think that will be a big problem.”

And Heaton was delighted by the way Burnley dug in to earn a point in his first game as skipper.

“We have that attitude every day in training, it’s not something we switch on and off. It’ something we try to do every day no matter what we’re doing on the training pitch,” said the 29-year-old.

“It spreads and you could see on Saturday when we needed it under a bit of pressure we could keep going and thankfully we managed to get (a point).

“We showed a lot of character to get back into it. That’s been a theme since I’ve been at the club with the manager.

“We stayed at it and it was a great ball in from Ten (Darikwa) on his debut and a brilliant, brilliant header from Vokesy (Sam Vokes).

“To come back after his injury at the back end of last season and keep working and get an equaliser like that in fantastic fashion, it’s great for him.

“It was a tough game, cagey throughout. The first game of the season is always tough and when you come to a place like this it adds a bit more to it.

“We showed a lot of character to come back and get a point. And it’s a big point, it’s a tough place to come.

“We’ve started with a solid foundation and we can build on that.”