Brady absence would be a "massive loss" for Clarets says defender Ward

The Republic of Ireland international immediately signalled to the bench in some distress following a collision with Leicester City's Harry Maguire as the Clarets were beaten 1-0 at the King Power Stadium.

Brady left the pitch on a stretcher, with his left leg in a brace, with half-an-hour played and was taken to hospital for scans on his knee to reveal the extent of the damage.

Boss Sean Dyche feared the worst when addressing the media in the post-match press conference but Ward was praying that the injury wasn't as bad as first thought.

With the club due to learn more, the Clarets full back said: "Obviously we don't know the extent of it yet but it didn't look great. Fingers crossed that it's not as bad as it looked. He's been outstanding for us recently and if it is bad he'll be a massive loss for us.

"It would be a massive blow. We'll await the news and we wish him well because he's been great for us. He's great to have in the dressing room too so our thoughts are with him if it is bad.

"It's another test for the squad but we've dealt with these kind of set backs before."

The incident compounded a disappointing afternoon for Burnley, who suffered only a second loss on the road this term in the top flight.

The Foxes, coached by former Southampton boss Claude Puel, netted the only goal of the game in the sixth minute when Demarai Gray pounced after Riyad Mahrez's cross troubled goalkeeper Nick Pope.

Ward was pleased with the overall performance against the 2015/16 Premier League champions but was frustrated not to add to their 14-point tally on their travels.

"We're still disappointed," he said. "We went a goal down but I thought we stayed in the game really well.

"They're a very good side at home, they play quite expansively, getting a lot of players forward.

"I thought we defended well, it's just disappointing that we couldn't put one in the net ourselves. I think it would've been a very good point for us.

"I think we put some really decent deliveries in the box and set-pieces. When we were on top in the first half we needed to score and that would've changed the outlook of the game."

Ward added: "When it got to half-time they re-organised a bit, sat in and caught us on the counter.

"That made it difficult for us because it's tough to break teams down when they put seven or eight men behind the ball and then are ready to counter. It makes the game very end-to-end which isn't always ideal.

"We're disappointed but we thought it was another strong performance from ourselves and we could've got something."