BURNLEY sit proudly at the top of the first division after a late Claret's strike bagged them three points at Valley Parade.

The Clarets notched a 3-2 win over Bradford City in dramatic fashion as substitute Tony Ellis, dubbed Elvis by Clarets boss Stan Ternent, scored five minutes from time.

Burnley had twice led in the second half only for Bradford to hit back, but Ternent said that he wasn't surprised that Ellis, on for Ian Moore, had come up with the goods and proved that "Elvis is alive and well."

"Elvis is a proven goal scorer," said Ternent. "He has scored goals all his career.

"He can play with his back to goal and hold the ball up well, and he is a very bright and very fit player.

"It doesn't surprise me at all that he got that goal."

But 36-year-old Ellis, picked up by Ternent this summer after he was discarded by third division Rochdale, was not the only hero.

Glen Little topped a sublime performance with two goals and Ternent felt that the Wimbledon-born winger had notched a third.

After 18 minutes Little fired in a shot that appeared to come out after hitting the crossbar and both posts, but Ternent was eager to see a video tape of the incident.

"It wasn't 0-0 at half-time it was 1-0 to us," he smiled.

"I thought it was a goal but then I have not seen what the cameras saw and in the end it was not a goal because the referee did not give it.

"To be honest I can't say it was a goal because it really was a strange incident, but I'd like to see the tape.

But Ternent was just happy to be sitting at the top of the table after five games with four wins, three of them away from home, in the bag.

"There is a long way to go but we will do all that we can to stay there," he said. "There will be days when we don't get the breaks, but if we continue to play with the commitment and effort the players have shown so far then I feel we can be a match for anyone.

"We will need to get an even break on injuries and suspensions and get the rub of the green on the field, like we did at times against Bradford, but the whole team has done well and stuck at the job in hand.

"I thought the game yesterday was fantastic and a great advert for first division football, and that we showed a lot of courage.

"We got ahead twice only to be pegged back and that is when we showed the courage to win the game.

"But the players keep going forward and we have won the match, which is what we aimed to do, against a side who have just come down from the Premiership.

"It is going to be hard, it is a very tough division."

The Clarets' next test is at Turf Moor against newly promoted Rotherham United on Saturday, but they will face the Millers without defender Ian Cox. Hewas an absentee for the Valley Parade clash after being told to rest an Achilles problem.

"Ian has got tendonitis in his Achilles and we were advised not to play him, " said Ternent.

"There was a suggestion that he could end up with the same problem as Graham Branch, and there was no way I could risk him.

"All he needs is to rest for two weeks."