A HALF-TIME rocket from manager Stan Ternent turned another potential defeat into a thrilling victory as the Clarets beat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road last night.

Marlon Beresford made a crucial penalty save to stop the Hornets going 2-0 up and set up the fightback that saw goals from Ian Cox and Paul Weller send Burnley back up to fifth in the table, still with games in hand on their rivals.

But Ternent admitted it had taken a team talk at the interval to turn things around.

"I thought we played extremely well in the second half because I felt in the first half we weren't at it," he explained.

"That is understandable with the run we have been on but we had a few words at half time and they did themselves and the club proud after that.

"We are now back in a top six position, we have won and that will build confidence. It was a big result and a big second half performance.

"We have had some setbacks but when all our players are fit we will be okay."

It was the first time since the victory over Stockport County on December 15 that Burnley had picked up all three points, a run that had seen them drop from the top to seventh, outside the play-off places.

And it was a night when two key substitutions came off. Cox, dropped for the first time as a Burnley player, came off the bench to score his first goal of the season and then another sub, young Brad Maylett, created Paul Weller's last gasp winner.

Ternent led the touchline celebrations but warned: "There will be downs as well as ups but we rolled our sleeves up and dug in.

"It is never easy when you are on a bad run but after the second half display I felt we deserved the result."

He was also delighted that they had rewarded the fans who had travelled to watch them despite recent disappointments.

"It was important to play well because we have a responsibility to the travelling supporters," he said. "We had a good following tonight, they were fantastic, they were behind us."

Ternent's opposite number Gianluca Vialli, who in contrast saw his players booed off, has little doubt that the Clarets will be in the shake-up at the end of the season.

"I think they can go quite far," he said after a second defeat at the hands of Burnley.

"They have got good players, quality players.

"They have been having a bad run with a few bad results and they needed to get a result tonight.

"That will help their confidence and they are going to bounce back.

"When you score in the last minute to win it gives you a lot of confidence and courage. They have done very well in the first two thirds of the season and on the back of this result they can carry on being a good team."

The next stop for Ternent's men is Oakwell for Saturday's match against Barnsley.

He will be hoping his men will be able to reproduce the form of the second half for the full 90 minutes against Steve Parkin's side.