Town and Burnley remain locked at 0-0 at the break, Clarets’ winger Michael Kightly having gone closest to scoring when he hit the post.
Boss Mick McCarthy named an unchanged side with Freddie Sears, who signed a new contract earlier today, and Daryl Murphy the strikers again getting the nod with David McGoldrick and Brett Pitman on the bench.
Town started brightly, Ainsley Maitland-Niles sending Sears away down the right in the opening minute but Clarets’ keeper and skipper Tom Heaton grabbed the ball ahead of Murphy.
On three, Sears lost his footing on the very wet surface - it had been raining for much of the day - and inadvertently clattered into Ben Mee, who required lengthy treatment before continuing.
Immediately play resumed, Michael Kightly, who played for Blues boss McCarthy at Wolves, cut in from the left past Town skipper Chambers. The former Grays Athletic man’s first effort struck team-mate Jelle Vossen who couldn’t control, but the ball bounced back to the winger and he hit a shot across Bartosz Bialkowski, off the far post and into the grateful Blues keeper’s arms.
In the 13th minute Chambers brought the ball into the Burnley area on the right after good work from Murphy and Maitland-Niles and hit a shot which deflected across the face of goal and wide.
From the corner, the ball deflected towards Christophe Berra but the centre-half was unable to direct it goalwards.
A minute later, Cole Skuse shot over from 25 yards, then Maitland-Niles screwed an effort well wide from a similar distance.
The Blues were starting to look the more threatening side and on 17 Murphy turned Ryan Fraser’s left-wing cross over the bar from midway inside the area.
One-time Town target George Boyd volleyed over in the 28th minute before Fraser was replaced by David McGoldrick, the Scottish U21 international having undergone treatment for a knock a few minutes earlier. Murphy moved to the left.
On 32 Sears profited from a loose Tendayi Darikwa pass midway inside the Burnley half, the ex-Colchester man bringing the ball forward before hitting a low drive straight at Heaton.
The visitors came close to going in front in the 40th minute when Kightly ran at the Town defence to the right of centre and fed Vossen, one of two Burnley players to his left in space on the edge of the box, but the Belgian’s shot was batted away by Bialkowski.
In the final scheduled minute of the half, David Jones, another of McCarthy’s Wolves squad, curled a freekick not far over the bar from the right.
The game remained goalless at the whistle and the level scoreline was a fair reflection of the half as a whole.
Burnley had come closest to scoring when the dangerous Kightly hit the post and with Vossen’s late strike but the Blues had had more half-chances in what had been an evenly-balanced first period.
The biggest disappointment for Town was losing Fraser, amongst the best performers in the Blues’ three previous games, to his injury, however, McGoldrick had already shown one or two glimpses of his skills.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Smith, Berra, Skuse, Douglas, Maitland-Niles, Fraser (McGoldrick 28), Sears, Murphy. Gerken, Pitman, Coke, Tabb, Emmanuel, Touré.
Burnley: Heaton (c), Duff, Darikwa, Keane, Mee, Arfield, Jones, Boyd, Kightly, Vossen, Vokes. Subs: Gilks, Taylor, Sordell, Hennings, Jutkiewicz, Ward, Anderson. Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).