Burnley earned a battling point from a dour, defensive stalemate at Southampton.

Chances were at a premium on the south coast, with debutant Eric Djemba-Djemba coming closest for the Clarets with an early snapshot.

But the Saints were shot-shy themselves and goalkeeper Mike Pollitt had a comfortable debut following his loan signing from Wigan.

There were four changes to the Burnley side that lost in the FA Cup at Reading in midweek.

Kyle Lafferty got the nod in attack in preference to Gifton Noel-Williams, while Michael Duff returned from suspension to replace Stephen Foster.

But the real interest for around 700 travelling supporters concerned the inclusion of Pollitt and Djemba-Djemba, both making their Burnley bows for Brian Jensen and Steve Jones respectively.

Aston Villa midfielder Djemba-Djemba only linked up with his team mates 24 hours before kick off at St Mary's.

And despite only one appearance for Villa as a substitute on the opening day of the Premiership season, he was thrown straight into the mix.

And he came within a whisker of making a spectacular start to his Clarets career, smashing a 25 yard drive inches over in the ninth minute from Ade Akinbiyi's lay off.

And as the Clarets continued their confident start, Akinbiyi was only denied by Kelvin Davis's ability as he looked to latch onto a quickly taken free kick.

Little had been seen of the Southampton attack as the half hour mark passed. The Clarets defence, marshaled by Pollitt, was comfortably keeping the Saints at arms length.

But Thomas soon needed to be alert to clear when Kenwyne Jones skipped past Jon Harley and crossed low for the inrushing Jermaine Wright.

However, an even half ended tamely, with Djemba-Djemba curling a free kick from 25 yards harmlessly over the Southampton crossbar.

Southampton-born Burnley winger Wade Elliott forced Davis to tip over his own crossbar straight from the restart - the first shot on target of the afternoon!

And Lafferty perhaps should have done better soon after when he sped through the hosts' back line, but cut back onto his right foot before firing straight at Davis.

Pollitt was still enjoying a quiet debut, but David McGoldrick gave the on-loan Wigan stopper a fright in the 54th minute with a snapshot that flew just wide.

And Burnley nemesis Grzegorz Rasiak was refused a penalty just after the hour, falling to the deck spectacularly when Wayne Thomas mis-controlled and then stuck out a foot to halt the Polish striker.

Seconds later Akinbiyi was inches away from finding striker partner Lafferty with a sublime ball across the Saints box with the outside of his right boot.

And with 15 minutes remaining, Akinbiyi himself was unlucky when he got a toe to Harley's low cross, only to see a defensive block save the day.

Southampton appealed for another penalty inside the final ten minutes, this time when Mario Licka fell over the outstretched boot of John McGreal.

But again the man in black was unimpressed and the game petered out into a tame goalless draw.

BURNLEY: Pollitt, Thomas, McGreal, Duff, Harley, Elliott, J O'Connor, McCann, Djemba-Djemba, Lafferty, Akinbiyi.
Subs: Spicer, Noel-Williams, G O'Connor, Foster, S Jones

Booked: Harley 38, Elliott 90

SOTON: Davis, Bale, Baird, Lundekvam, Powell, Licka, Wright, Pele, McGoldrick, Rasiak, K Jones (Wright-Phillips 46).
Subs: Bialkowski, Ostlund, Lallana, Viafara.

Booked: Jones 40

Ref: T Bates