Division One: Burnley 3 Norwich City 5 - DARREN BENTLEY reports
ANOTHER astonishing afternoon at Turf Moor dragged the dreaded 'R' word back into conversations at bars throughout Burnley.
And sifting through the debris of Norwich's five-goal salvo, the only conclusion to be drawn is that defending of this nature is driving fans to drink.
With every passing minute, it's easy to see why Clarets boss Stan Ternent was desperate to lace his back line with pace last summer.
Such a critical attribute can atone for a multitude of sins against the First Division speed kings.
It has been the Clarets undoing on many occasions this season, most recently at Coventry when Julian Joachim made David May and Mark McGregor look like they were treading treacle.
Bradford whiz-kids Danny Cadamarteri and Michael Branch were handled much better last week.
But Darren Huckerby is an entirely different animal. This City slicker doesn't just run - he positively scorches the earth, leaving everything and everybody trailing in his wake.
Such blistering pace will always unlock defences - and Burnley were certainly no exception.
Huckerby scored two, created another two and tore across Turf Moor with more than a passing resemblance to the Tasmanian Devil.
In short, Burnley had no answer, despite Lee Roche's sterling effort at damage limitation.
One consolation the battered defence can take from this defeat is they are unlikely to face such a potent weapon again between now and May 9.
However, in balancing the equation, the one thing they absolutely must do is up the ante in terms of performing the elementary art of defending.
Ternent lay the finger of blame for City's runaway win squarely at the door of keeper Brian Jensen; one minute the hero, the next the villain of the piece.
The Dane is truly an enigma whose ever-changing fortunes are shrouded in mystery.
Just how Jensen can come up with two totally contrasting performances in the space of a week is nothing short of mind-boggling.
And after breaking Bradford hearts with a pretty sensational display, Burnley fans saw the ugly side of the Beast.
As the last line of the defence, goalkeepers need to rule the penalty area with absolute authority, something all too conspicuous by its absence.
However, what unfolded in front of Jensen hardly helped any crumbling confidence.
Graham Branch turned in a display he will want to forget in a hurry, although the idiots in the stands who jeered every nervy touch should hang their heads in shame.
Alongside him David May tried manfully to hold things together, but against blistering pace and the electric movement of Matt Svensson and Leon McKenzie, it was proving an uphill task.
But it is the nature of the goals conceded that left Ternent so deflated after the first league defeat at Turf Moor this year - no mean feat in April, let's not forget.
Three times Burnley got themselves into the ascendancy against the meanest defence in Division One - another positive to cancel out a negative.
Yet three times they allowed City to grab quickfire equalisers, proving the old adage that you are never as vulnerable as when you score yourself.
The sides cancelled each other out for the first time inside 14 minutes.
Neil Wood grabbed his first Burnley goal midway through that opening spell with a sweet free-kick that totally deceived rookie England keeper Robert Green.
But a poor Jensen punch, when grabbing a harmless cross was the obvious alternative, led to the equaliser.
Paul McVeigh fizzed the ball back into the box, where Svensson beat cat-napping Branch to the ball and turned to fire home via a deflection off May's heel.
Huckerby had a header disallowed for offside before the two attack-minded teams exchanged goals again on the half hour.
First May threw himself in where it mattered to slide home Robbie Blake's excellent right wing corner.
But the crescendo of noise had hardly abated when Huckerby reacted first to a long put upfield, nipped in between May and the sluggish Jensen and pinged the ball home from the tightest of angles for a wonderful finish.
Wood, who enjoyed his finest hour in a Burnley shirt, then fizzed a shot from distance narrowly over before Blake amazingly restored the advantage for the third time.
Glen Little opened up the City defence with a flick header and Blake did the rest with a polished finish to make it 21 for the season.
Just where Burnley would be without those goals hardly bears thinking about, and it sent a buzz of anticipation around Turf Moor as fans drew breath at the interval.
Sadly, everything quickly fell apart, with McKenzie's scrambled third leveller the turning point of the afternoon.
Ternent would have been demanding his side keep things tight for 20 minutes or so from the restart - but just six minutes in Jensen half-heartedly came to claim Huckerby's tame free kick, missed the ball entirely and the ball cannoned off McKenzie into an empty net.
Heads visibly dropped on the pitch, while the atmosphere in the stands instantly took on the air of a fait accompli.
And sure enough, following another Huckerby 'goal' chalked off for offside, City took the lead for the first time with only their fourth attempt on target.
The jet-heeled striker left Roche for dead on the half-way line and fed overlapping full back Adam Drury, who crossed for Svensson to nod past a statuesque Jensen.
Four became five when Huckerby himself nipped in ahead of Branch to slot home with minute to go.
But by then Burnley's candle had long since burned out.
Now the fire needs rekindling quickly - or the Clarets WILL crash and burn.
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