BURNLEY boss Brian Laws had special praise for central defender Leon Cort and left-back Brian Easton, who made his league debut against Barnsley last night after Danny Fox failed a fitness test.

“Leon Cort for me was man of the match because he made two critical tackles when it was 0-0, and those were probably the decisive moments for me,” said Laws.

“We've got to give him credit for that because that kept us in the game."

Of Easton, he added: “I didn't tell him an hour before kick-off because I thought he might be nervy.

“I thought he had a solid performance and grew into the game as it went on.

“I thought he got better and better.

“We keep saying we've got a good squad and that was another good test of it.”