Burnley on the brink!

Seemingly floating towards calmer waters after sinking Walsall at the weekend, the Good Ship Burnley suddenly sprung another untimely leak in front of their own, long suffering fans.

And an iceberg of cataclysmic size lies menacingly on the horizon unless the Clarets can bail themselves out of trouble quickly.

The mere mention of Second Division football is enough to send an icy shiver down the spine. But if ever a performance had the chilling ring of relegation written all over it, this was it.

And the cold realisation that the battle to beat the drop is far from over might well be the only positive to draw from a day when absolutely nothing - results from elsewhere included - went right for the Clarets.

There was the double blow of early injuries, sloppy goals needlessly conceded and a manager sat watching helplessly from the stands as utter carnage unfolded before his eyes.

At times, Ternent must have felt like he was rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic as he shuffled personnel and tried every tactical ploy to try to kick-start something...anything.

Poor Ronnie Jepson, who acted as Ternent's runner, will never want to see another step again given the number of times he made the shuttle run into the Bob Lord stand and then back to the dug out to bark out new orders.

Alas, it was all for nothing as the Hornets took all the sting out of Burnley and lifted themselves a few steps closer to First Division survival.

Neil Wood quickly became Ternent's first problem of a problematic afternoon, feeling the full force of a challenge from Watford defender Marcus Gayle and never fully recovering.

Sadly, the midfielder - so influential in recent weeks - soon gave in to the inevitable and was replaced by Luke Chadwick.

The only surprise was that he was not the first to leave the field. Moments earlier, Paul Weller, who had clearly failed to shake off the hamstring problem aggravated at Walsall, was replaced by Lenny Johnrose.

However, even by then warning signs were there for all to see.

French teenager Hammeur Bouazza met Gavin Mahon's ninth minute free kick with a thumping header that Burnley's Beast pawed onto a post.

Brian Jensen needed to be on his toes again to gather Heidar Helguson's drive from the edge of the area, and Gavin Mahon's low effort also failed to beat the Clarets stopper.

But Burnley had better luck at the opposite end with their only first effort of any description on the half hour mark.

Robbie Blake's corner was only half cleared to Chadwick, who headed back into the mix for Mark McGregor to beat Alec Chamberlain with a firm header to find the net for the first time since November 2002.

Game on, or so we thought because disastrously, the lead lasted just seven minutes. Graham Branch made a rash, ill-timed lunge to foul Paul Devlin as the winger broke into the penalty area and referee Carl Boyeson, who was incurring the wrath of the Turf Moor faithful with a string of incredulous decisions, had possibly the easiest of the afternoon to make.

Devlin picked himself up to make no mistake from the spot and suddenly any confidence Burnley might have gained from snatching the lead evaporated into thin air.

Now it was again a case of somehow getting to the break on level terms to allow Ternent to try and restore calm from the sanctuary of the dressing room.

But even that seemed to have little effect as Watford came back out firing on all cylinders, pinging passes around before Mahon whipped a curler wide and Chris Baird fired into Jensen's midriff.

Nine minutes in, Ternent had finally seen enough and Dele Adebola - still not fully fit - was introduced for Chadwick.

But within a minute of that last throw of the dice, things went from bad to worse with Hyde's long ball out of defence catching Branch flat footed.

Helguson effortlessly muscled the Clarets skipper off the ball, held off McGregor's late intervention and slid the ball under the advancing Jensen to turn the game on its head.

The news of other scorelines was now raising the temperature in the stands - and Turf Moor went apoplectic in the 65th minute when Ian Moore sprinted clear on goal past Sean Dyche and was clearly held back before keeper Chamberlain made up ground to clear.

Once again, ref Boyeson got things hopelessly wrong as, instead of a probable red card for the Hornets defender, he waved play on the utter disgust of the Clarets players.

It truly becoming a truly appalling display from the Yorkshireman in black on his first ever visit to this particular Red Rose retreat - and the fans made sure he would not forget it in a hurry.

But to blame Boyeson for such a horror show from the Clarets would be churlish, because even a goal down an equaliser never looked on the cards.

Bouazza indulged in a little tussle with Jensen in the Burnley box before firing over with the keeper sprawling to claim the loose ball.

And after Glen Little's right wing cross bounced off Mo Camara and looped gently into Chamberlain's arms - only the Clarets' second attempt on goal - suddenly it was all over.

Lee Roche showed Lee Cook far too much to aim at with seven minutes remaining and the midfielder rifled home the decisive third from the edge of the box.

A chink of light arrived when Adebola headed a consolation on his Turf Moor debut with just five minutes left, reacting first when Robbie Blake's cross cannoned off a Watford knee.

But it was just a false dawn on what Ternent later called "a bad day at the office".

Worryingly, Burnley cannot afford any more.

BURNLEY 2

McGregor 30, Adebola 85

WATFORD 3

Devlin pen 38, Helguson 55, Cook 83

Turf Moor Att: 11,413