BURNLEY 1 EVERTON 1

IN the week when Steve Cotterill turned 40, he unwrapped a belated birthday surprise in the form of Frank Sinclair.

Few Clarets fans set off for Turf Moor last night expecting a third debutant to make his bow alongside Danny Coyne and Micah Hyde.

But as supporters exercised their right arms in the local hostelries, former Leicester City defender Sinclair was undergoing a rigorous medical and signing a one-year deal just 90 minutes before being handed possibly the quickest debut any Burnley player has been faced with.

Sinclair, released by the Foxes this summer six years after making the £2 million switch from Chelsea, only met his new team-mates ahead of the pre-match warm-up!

But the icing on Cotterill's cake was a performance that surely left all Clarets fans heading home nodding their approval on the eve of a new season and a new era.

All the pieces are now falling into place for the new Burnley boss, who in the past two months has clocked up more miles than Michael Palin to open the book of his Turf Moor reign.

Supporters were promised quality, not quantity. And Sinclair's secretive capture, kept under wraps for some 36 hours, means four of his five summer signings are fully-fledged internationals. When was the last time the club could boast that proud fact?

Jamaican defender Sinclair joined fellow countryman Hyde, Northern Ireland stopper Michael Duff and Welsh goalkeeper Coyne in what will - Ian Moore aside - surely be Cotterill's starting line up when Sheffield United arrive for the Coca Cola Championship curtain-raiser in just two weeks time.

Right-sided Sinclair slotted in effortlessly alongside the fifth new signing, John McGreal, to add yet more strength and flexibility to a spine that already looks a whole lot stronger than this time last summer.

And against Premiership opponents, the entire body of the side carried a shape and physique that should provide a welcome shot of optimism even before the fine-tuning of the Austrian training trip.

For long spells of this Turf Moor friendly, David Moyes' men were distinctly second best, chasing shadows as Burnley fizzed and pinged the ball among each other with, dare I say it, panache.

Naturally, it's far too early to get carried away, but with the energetic Hyde beavering away alongside Richard Chaplow and Tony Grant - made captain for the night against his boyhood heroes - and the equally impressive Coyne anchoring a wholly rebuilt defence, I'll eat salad if last season's dismal total of 77 league goals conceded is not reduced.

Everton keeper Richard Wright had already saved well from Chaplow and Robbie Blake before last season's 22-goal hitman made it two goals in as many pre-season games on 18 minutes, nonchalantly chipping the stranded stopper from a tight angle after he performed more heroics to keep out Sinclair's volley.

Coyne got in on the act himself with terrific stops from Marcus Bent and Gary Naysmith's curling free kick before Graham Branch brought another fine save at the other end - the ball ballooning off Wright's prone body and cannoning off the crossbar.

Great goalkeeping was also a feature of a more staccato second half, with England keeper Wright notably denying Clarets sub Cyril Eboki-Poh a goal with virtually the trialist's first touch.

Coyne also showed great agility to instinctively deny Blues sub Leon Osman low to his right, but could do nothing from the resulting corner seven minutes from time as towering Joseph Yobo rose to power home Naysmith's delivery.

Cotterill was later disappointed with a poor equaliser. However, if the old adage is true and life truly does begin at 40, the new Clarets boss must be itching for the real party to get started.