Fabio Celestini believes Burnley are close to another victory after draw at QPR

Fabio Celestini is confident Burnley are heading in the right direction even though QPR denied him a first win as boss.

Largie Ramazani had Burnley dreaming of only their second victory of the season when he fired them ahead at Loftus Road.

But Jonathan Varane’s second-half strike earned Rangers a point from a 1-1 draw, with a little help from Burnley goalkeeper Gregoire Coudert.

Swiss coach Celestini, who replaced the sacked Nicky Hayen last week and began his reign with Saturday’s goalless home draw against Portsmouth, said: “It was a tough game.

“We were very close to taking three points but when you see the game, one point is good. The team is together and trying to win games.

“We missed a bit of quality. With the ball I think we can do better. But one point, Saturday, one point today, hopefully next we can get three. But at the moment I’m happy with what I see.”

Burnley took the lead against the run of play with seven minutes of the first half remaining.

Coudert’s clearance was met with a poor header from Rangers defender Ronnie Edwards.

Jamie Vardy cleverly worked the second ball out to Leeds loanee Ramazani, who struck a sweet 20-yard drive past Pierce Charles, the Rangers goalkeeper getting a hand to the ball but not keeping it out.

Moments later Vardy thought he had set up a second for Andreas Hountondji, who tucked the ball past Charles only to be flagged offside.

Rangers boss Julien Stephan made a double change on the hour and the substitutes almost combined to equalise with their first touches, Rayan Kolli pulling the ball back for Ilias Chair, who blazed over the crossbar.

However, the hosts did haul themselves level in the 65th minute when Chair teed up Varane, whose shot from the edge of the box slipped under Coudert’s glove and rolled into the net.

Vardy could have won it for the Clarets – and probably would have done 10 years ago – when he was put through by Hountondji late on.

The 39-year-old former Premier League winner let the ball run across him, but then buried his angled finish into the side-netting.

Stephan said: “I’m frustrated with the result. I enjoyed the performance.

“We should have scored one or two in the first 20 minutes. Then they scored with their first shot and we missed some easy passes.

“In the second half I thought we had the chances not only to equalise but to win. We were really dominant but it’s a lack of efficiency which is the difference between us and the teams at the top.”