Views from the Stockport win

Carlton Palmer

It could be down to management naivity but there again it is probably due to the fact that Carlton had the worst seat in the house for most of the game, next to Brendan Elwood. This is what he had to say,

I think Palmer is going to have some problems as a manager if he really thought they were the better side but Stan was quick to congratulate Stockport on the way they played.

Now onto the press,

IF Bob Lord, the Lancashire butcher who dominated Burnley when they were last a footballing power, was watching this from his heavenly vantage point, he'll enjoy a celestial Sunday lunch today.

The way Burnley gave credence to the belief they are about to return to the top flight after a 25-year absence wasn't always impressive, and the 70th-minute goal by Ian Moore against his former club that gave Burnley a 3-1 lead turned out to be the decisive strike. Indeed, bottom-placed Stockport County would still be justified in asking themselves how they didn't travel home with at least a point to ease their grim plight.

Though Stockport were given the consolation of a stoppage-time goal from the penalty spot by Shefki Kuqi after substitute Paul Weller had handled, Burnley's run of six successive wins suggests the good times are finally coming back.

There are several managers looking to win a Premiership place with a bigger budget and more star-studded resources than Stan Ternant. But none can match the results that have kept Burnley top for more than a month and never out of the top six all season.

"It was an ugly game," admitted Ternant, who had seen his side take command against the run of play, only to allow Stockport to snatch a consolation goal in added time and threaten a late equaliser. "At times the ball was screaming for mercy out there, but when you are top of the league, you are there to be shot at.

"You have to give Stockport a lot of credit and they probably deserved to get something out of the game but more credit should go to my mob, because they won and got another three points."

Burnley braved a couple of scares before taking the lead from the penalty spot through Glen Little after Damien Delaney felled Stuart Taylor, but Stockport were level within two minutes with Gary McSheffrey capitalising on some horrendous defending and an Ali Gibb centre.

Stockport should have gone in front on the hour when Kuqi's onrushing physical presence again sent Nikolaos Michopoulos in Burnley's goal into a state of panic. Kevin Ellison, darting forward from his central midfield berth, followed up to direct the loose ball just wide of the upright.

Though Burnley's best play usually seemed to stem from the left flank, Ternant opted to replace Alan Moore with Weller but Little continued to patrol just inside the touchline and his deliveries proved crucial.

Midway through the second half, Burnley made their superiority tell and they were clinical in their finishing. First the always impressive Little crossed from the right for Taylor to head his ninth goal of the season. Then the midfielder switched to the left and was equally accurate in supplying Ian Moore.

Kuqi was given consolation for a tireless afternoon's work when he converted Stockport's late penalty after substitute Weller handled the ball. County manager Carlton Palmer said: "Four of the last five opposing managers have told me that we were the better team and should keep going. That's not good enough for me."

Wary of tempting fate to expose themselves as mere fanciful dreamers, no one is talking too loudly about promotion at Turf Moor, not least Burnley's wise and wily manager, Stan Ternent. But after Stockport succumbed to the First Division leaders' sixth consecutive win here yesterday, a return to the top flight after 25 years edged closer to becoming reality.

Struggling Stockport, with only two wins all season, put up a respectable fight for more than an hour, before two goals in six minutes put the Clarets in control, the scoreline made to look close only by a stoppage-time penalty. Burnley's advantage now stands at seven points and while wealthier rivals may still be offered at shorter odds to be in front when it counts in April, for the moment the likes of Manchester City and Wolves are being stretched to stay in touch.

In an open race for First Division honours, Burnley's form has defied the suspicion that an apparently modestly equipped squad would not be good enough to sustain a challenge. They led the table for three weeks in September only to drop to seventh place after a run of one win in seven, but have recovered so strongly over the last six weeks that their prominence can no longer be regarded as an early season freak.

However, had the home supporters expected any easy pickings in yesterday's top-versus-bottom clash, they had reason to revise that view. Indeed, after Burnley had taken an early lead, Carlton Palmer's team stunned the Turf Moor crowd by drawing level within three minutes.

Burnley, seeking to build on an eight-match unbeaten run, went ahead after their striker Gareth Taylor had been tripped inside the penalty area by the on-loan midfielder, Damien Delaney. Glen Little, the right-sided midfielder central to much of Burnley's better play, tucked the ball neatly away from the spot.

But Stockport, whose ambition had already resulted in a chance squandered by Gary McSheffrey and a crisply struck effort by Kevin Ellison that was well saved by Nik Michopoulos, were quickly back on level terms.

Ali Gibb's cross from the right was knocked down by Shefki Kuqi, the Finnish striker whose physical presence posed problems for Burnley throughout, and McSheffrey made amends with a diving header beyond Michopoulos's reach.

Parity was no more than Stockport deserved. In fact, County perhaps should have taken the lead after an hour when Kuqi's strength took him into a shooting position, only to see his strike parried by Michopoulos and then the rebound shot wide by Ellison.

For all their bright touches going forward, however, Stockport are prone to carelessness at the back, and goals conceded after 66 and 70 minutes left Palmer to ponder his side's frailties as a fifth consecutive defeat beckoned.

Each time, the influential Little was involved, crossing from the right to set up Taylor to head home his ninth of the season – putting him level with Little, as it happens – and then from the left for Taylor's co-striker, Ian Moore, on the near post, to put the outcome beyond doubt. Kuqi's late penalty was no more than a consolation.

Burnley blow hot as mercurial rise

This was a tale of two clubs moving in opposite directions. Upwardly mobile Burnley survived a few scares to extend their lead at the top, but sorry Stockport paid dearly for poor finishing and are now nine points adrift at the bottom.

The prospect of Turf Moor hosting top-flight football for the first time in 26 years is becoming increasingly realistic. Burnley may not have as much money as many of their promotion rivals, but they are easily the division's most consistent side and in Stan Ternent they have a mercurial manager who in only 3 seasons has transformed a side languishing near the bottom of the Second Division into serious Premiership contenders.

The chairman Barry Kilby stated this week that the club could not afford to "buy their way into the Premiership". But Ternent intimated after the match that if the club has serious promotion ambitions some money will have to be spent. "If I can strengthen the squad that's what I intend to do because we're in a position now that warrants that," he said. "We owe it to the players, to the board, but most of all to the supporters, because we've got to have a go at it if possible."

With six players unavailable through injury and suspension, a depleted side struggled to dispose of a Stockport team who had lost their past four matches and leaked 12 goals in their past three away games.

The class of Glen Little made the difference. The winger scored the first from the spot, after his through ball had released Gareth Taylor, who was felled in the box by Damien Delaney. Little then delivered impeccable crosses from each wing for Taylor and Ian Moore to head home.