“It wasn’t a nice record to have, but I didn’t mention it all week to the players," Appleton said after he had seen David Norris win the game for Portsmouth with a stoppage time goal.
“I waited until two minutes before they went out to face Burnley before bringing the subject up. I told them the pitch was the same size, the grass was still green, they were still up against 11 players. The only difference in playing away was that most of the fans would be booing them rather than cheering.
“From my point of view it was all about inner belief and the lads went out there and produced the goods.”
He added: “My first thought was to keep a clean sheet, and I was pleased from that perspective because Stephen Henderson only had one save to make. We played well, kept the ball, always looked comfortable and in the end took advantage right at the end on the counter-attack.
“It’s a great result against a side who had just won their third straight game with a 2-1 win at West Ham. It was a great finish by David Norris. After watching my first game in charge at Watford I told him he needed to time his runs better, and he’s been doing just that.
“It’s great to get back-to-back wins, which sets us up for the game against Southampton. What I do know is that I will have to disappoint some players because they all want to play in that game, but only 11 can start.
“I should think the place will be rocking and hopefully we’ll go out there and put a performance on.”
Eddie Howe saw his team yet again conceded a late winner to the opposition. "I thought we had moved on from the late goal drama here against us and it's a really difficult one to take," he said.
"We've had it before against Reading and Leeds and felt we'd learned from that and today I thought we were the team on top and pushing for the winner. I didn't really see the goal coming and it's another blow and another lesson for us to learn.
"We had it all to do to try and break them down and I don't think we did it particularly well. It was a game of few clear-cut chances and if we'd got the first goal I think we'd have gone on to win the game.
"But I think you have to give credit to Portsmouth. They nullified our attacking threat, defended crosses really well and congested midfield and made it difficult for us.
"We struggled to get the ball wide and hurt them in wide areas, which is something we have worked on. "Both wide players found it difficult to get into the game and it was just a day when we suffered a little bit."
The only good news for Burnley was the return of strikers Martin Paterson and Charlie Austin from injury with both of them coming off th bench. Howe said of that: "We were delighted to get them both back. It adds real competition for places, as you can see form the players that were out of the squad today. We now have really good attacking options and that's why players like Keith (Treacy) missed out today, because we needed a balance on the bench.
"It was difficult for Martin and Charlie though coming into a game like that because we didn't really pass the ball particularly well. Now it's a case of making sure they are match fit and ready to go."