Nigel Pearson was keen to look at the bigger picture and praise his players after they narrowly fell short against Premier League hopefuls for the second time in four days.
The City manager had no complaints about his players' application and admits the last two results and performances are a fair reflection of where his side are at this season as they head into the international break one point adrift of the play-offs.
Burnley threatened to give the visitors a long afternoon when Manuel Benson fired in the opening goal after just four minutes after he was given the freedom of Turf Moor to surge forward and get his strike away.
Despite some early relentless pressure from the hosts, City regrouped and settled into the contest before Nahki Wells maintained his fine form by grabbing an equaliser against his former club from Kal Naismith's brilliant corner.
Burnley had 73 per cent of the possession in the first half and the second period continued much in the same vein but City looked relatively comfortable in a disciplined showing. That was until Johann Berg Gudmundsson's whipped cross was glanced into the net from Jay Rodriguez on 67 minutes.
"We've had our chances but they're a decent side, they've had plenty of possession," Pearson said.
"We didn't want to sit back and soak up the pressure but they were very efficient in possession. It meant at times we had to be patient and disciplined.
"The goals that we conceded we could have done better with both but to measure ourselves this week against two sides who have recently been in the Premier League.
"We rued some missed opportunities this week where we perhaps should have got something from and picked some points up but we've been competitive and the way that the players have gone about.
"Their application has been very, very good. I don't have complaints. I have to be realistic about where we are that's it really. It illustrates the difficulties that teams can have to be consistently good in the Championship. It's a tough league.
"The players have given a good account of themselves this week. I know we're in a decent place and we create chances. We're disappointed today that we didn't convert a couple of other opportunities."
Preparations heading to Turf Moor were far from ideal following the midweek game at Norwich. They travelled overnight to arrive early in the morning on Thursday and were back on the road again on Friday to make the trip up north.
One could argue that City looked tired in the final 30 minutes especially, considering how hard Burnley made Pearson's players work off the ball with their possession.
But the City manager didn't want to use that as an excuse although admitted the early half-time substitutions of Alex Scott and Antoine Semenyo were a factor in freshening up legs.
He added: "The players were fine. We felt we had to freshen it up. We've done everything we can this week to try and keep players available.
"We started with the same team and made early changes because it felt it necessary to try and give a bit more energy to the team. One of the key issues this season will be whether we can keep key players fit because we don't have the depth that allows you to make changes without affecting too much of the quality. It's important we work hard to avoid injuries. But we're doing alright."
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