McInnes thought his side had snatched an undeserved point with a late leveller only for McCann to head home in the sixth minute of stoppage time. "We've been put through the mill tonight," he said. "We should be talking about a great comeback.
"It's tough to look at the positives but we have to do that. We've always kept fighting and shown a spirit, but all four goals are avoidable. They had an advantage at set-pieces with the added height but we have to show more determination.
"We must stay motivated to make the situation better, because one goal has undone all the hard work. I thought the free kick was soft and it gave us one last set-piece to deal with, but it's difficult to defend conceding four goals.
“We'll keep working to end this poor run we're on. We have areas we need to improve on; we know that.”
McInnes was roundly booed by the home support when he withdrew Steven Davies, the scorer of their first goal, but he explained: "Steven Davies acknowledged he was tired after an hour on Saturday and it was the same tonight. He's still working his way back to fitness."
For Pash, it was another big night as his former youth player Chris McCann headed home that late winner when it looked as though two of the points had gone.
“The game ebbed and flowed , but I felt we fully deserved the victory," he said after the game. “Even in the first half, at 1-0, I felt we were in total control and in the second half we got ourselves into such a good position.
“Playing with that purpose I couldn’t see any way back for them and then, for me, two refereeing decisions have totally changed it. We’ve made it hard for ourselves, but we would have been very disappointed to come off at 3-3 after that performance, but a smashing finish won it for us at the end.
“We know we’ve been conceding too many goals but it’s not as though we could do much about those tonight. All the back four are disappointed at the manner of the goals and they were probably thinking ‘here we go again’, but there is a lot of character in there and that showed at the end.
“We’ve had a lot of good performances in there and I really think it would have been an injustice if we hadn’t won it at the death.”
Again, the reaction turned to two goal Charlie Austin. Pash said of him: “I have only worked with Charlie for just over a week and the boy is a breath of fresh air.
“Even if you take away his goals, he is a total team player by running himself into the ground and doing anything you want him to. The kid is just a dream and he deserves everything he gets.”
And of Pashley himself: “I don’t expect anything to be honest. I will just carry on until I’m told otherwise, but it’s a great feeling being out there with the crowd and the atmosphere and it’s been great working with the first team.
“But the board will make the right decision for Burnley Football Club and in the meantime that’s six points and if I am still with the boys, we will go to Cardiff in great confidence.”