WHAT a great occasion Sunday was.

The BBC cameras back at Burnley and the Clarets were playing up to them to create a vibrant Turf Moor atmosphere.

We couldn't have asked for more ... apart from, perhaps, a few more bums on seats, but we won't go down that road.

Arsene Wenger himself was so suitably impressed by Burnley that he made a beeline for Owen Coyle straight after the game to congratulate him on his side's performance; one which really had Arsenal on the rack at times.

I felt we more than warranted at least a replay.

But although the all-round performance was impressive - aside from two avoidable goals - the catalogue of misses set alarm bells ringing in my head.

Kyle Lafferty was desperately unlucky to see a great header cannon off the crossbar, but Chris McCann should have done better when presented with virtually an open goal after Eduardo had put the Gunners in front.

And that wasn't the only effort the 20-year-old had with Wade Elliott sparkling on the right wing.

With a bit more composure, Andy Gray might have scored, albeit from arguably a more difficult chance.

What was pleasing, though, was that we didn't bore the pants off everyone by being too scared to get into those areas against one of the best teams in Europe.

But a real test of Burnley's mettle will be when we get back to the bread and butter of the league.

There is still a lot of making up to do, in that respect, for the 3-0 thrashing by Blackpool. Wenger's praise will be meaningless if the same effort, endeavour and enthusiasm shown against Arsenal cannot be transferred into the Championship.

For me, we desperately need a repeat of last season's scoreline when Plymouth Argyle are back in town to sustain the feelgood factor of this week.

On that occasion, the Pilgrims were punished 4-0 as the Clarets came out fighting from an 18-game winless league run.

The current run of no wins in six needs to be nipped in the bud, and fast.

Whether there will be another new face to be added to that of Stanislav Varga before then remains to be seen.

It is a major concern that both Kyle Lafferty and Chris McCann are both missing through suspension this weekend, but at least John Spicer is likely to return to fill that central midfield void, and Alan Mahon is, hopefully, edging closer to comeback.