Graham Alexander missed a rare penalty as Burnley were frustrated in a 0-0 draw with Bristol City.
Veteran fires penalty wide as Burnley twice hit woodwork
Graham Alexander missed a rare penalty as Burnley were frustrated in a 0-0 draw with Bristol City at Turf Moor.
The Clarets headed into the game with a 100 per cent home record and saw their best chance to preserve that statistic wasted when Alexander's spot-kick flew wide.
Jay Rodriguez and Wade Elliott were both denied by the woodwork for Burnley as City held out for a valuable point.
The Clarets started brightly as City goalkeeper David James was called upon to save headers from Rodriguez and Clarke Carlisle.
Jack Cork then went close to breaking the deadlock but the young midfielder's 25-yard strike went narrowly over the bar.
Burnley were given a golden opportunity to take a deserved lead when they were awarded a penalty.
Mears latched on to Chris Eagles' lovely chip and, as he went through on goal, the Jamaican international was hauled down by Danny Haynes in the area.
Referee Scott Mathieson wasted no time in pointing to the spot but Alexander fired wide, his first penalty miss for Burnley from 19 attempts.
Alexander looked to make amends eight minutes later but his free-kick was saved by James at the second attempt just ahead of an advancing Cork.
Stepped up tempo
After the interval, Burnley were indebted to Brian Jensen when he made a point-blank save from Marvin Elliott in the Robins' first clear opportunity on goal.
At the other end, Rodriguez's header left James stranded but the effort was cleared off the line by Christian Ribeiro.
Burnley stepped up the tempo and James was on hand to superbly tip Eagles' thumping 20-yard effort round the post.
From a similar distance, the midfielder tried his luck again and though the effort went past the outstretched James, it was fractionally wide of the right-hand post too.
Chris Iwelumo's close-range strike looked goalbound but Ribeiro once more spared the visitors' blushes with a block on the line.
Burnley were nearly caught out on the counter when Jon Stead unleashed a shot that looked certain to be heading in the bottom corner only for Jensen to push it round the post.
In the final minute, Elliott headed against the crossbar after Rodriguez was thwarted by the post earlier in the half.
