Outside bet Smith comes up with the goods(RANK:2>)

Smith 12 mins, Taylor 42 mins

Bignot 54 mins

BY his own admission Paul Smith was an outside bet to set Burnley on their way to a third successive Turf Moor victory.

Goalscoring has never been a major part of Smith's armoury in his injury-plagued Clarets career.

So much so that the last time he found the net prior to Saturday's opener against relegation-threatened Rangers he prompted a starkly contrasting reaction from Stan Ternent.

Ternent was then in charge of Bury when Smith helped condemn the would-be Second Division Champions to a 3-1 defeat in January, 1997.

It's taken four years and three Burnley managers to produce the next Smith strike and, while claiming it has been worth the wait would be stretching things slightly, Smith's calmy taken 12th-minute volley was a welcome sight.

Still only 24, Smith has endured some wretched luck with injuries, started only six games this season and is out of contract in the summer.

But he still has talent to be fulfilled and was clearly buoyed by helping Burnley warm-up for next Sunday's derby showdown at Ewood Park with a win that, although slightly fortuitous, extended an impressive home record and kept the club on course for a highly respectable finish.

"It was just great to be playing," said Smith, whose League goal career tally now stands at five.

"They put me at 16-1. I thought it should have been more like 6,000-1," added the former Turf Moor trainee who finished off a fine move involving Ian Moore and Glen Little as though he scored every week.

"It was a great ball by Glen and luckily I got my right peg on it and scored so I'm happy enough with that.

"It was a great afternoon. We had a few scares at the end but the defence held strong and it was a good three points."

By the time Burnley were hanging on grimly for their victory Smith was watching from the bench -- not a position he plans to become accustomed to in later life.

"I would hate to be a manager. I don't know how they've got any hair left because it's unbelievable," he said.

Ternent has seen it all before but admitted that his current side has a habit of making life difficult for themselves. He said: "Sometimes we have to learn, and we still are doing, how to win better. We surrender an initiative and go and drop back. The intent is good but the way of doing it isn't.

"We lived dangerously at times. I felt we started off very well and then they came into it a little and we finished the half well at 2-0 up.

"In the second half we started off okay for about 10 minutes and then for some reason we lost the plot a little. But we hung on and had a little bit of luck. It was a good win, all-in-all."

As the manager added, any win is a good win and despite allowing Rangers far too many sights of goal he praised his players for putting all hands to the deck to hang on in the closing stages and deny the plucky visitors even a point.

"Make no mistake with the squad that I have these players have done extremely well to get 55 points with nine games to play. Sometimes people have champagne tastes on beer money, but they've done very well," said Ternent, whose squad was down to 17 senior players on Saturday.

It's just as well that Gareth Taylor signed up again before the deadline to bolster the numbers by one and the on-loan Manchester City striker did his prospects of a permanent deal no harm at all by heading Burnley's second goal just before half-time following a cross from Smith.

Taylor and Ian Moore did well together in the first half when the Clarets enjoyed their best spells. With Kevin Ball champing at the bit and Glen Little back in the side and back on song Burnley played some decent stuff when the ball went to feet.

Ball got forward well and, like Moore, was another to threaten to end his lengthening wait for a goal.

However, Rangers, despite having won only once away from home all season, didn't fold after going behind and proceeded to carve out a host of chances.

They didn't play like strugglers but their finishing illustrated why Second Division football beckons and Jermaine Darlington, Paul Murray, Chris Kiwomya and the impressive Peter Crouch all failed to hit the target when they should have at least extended Clarets keeper Nik Michopoulos.

To add to their frustrations Ian Baraclough thumped a free-kick against the post and six minutes into the second half the woodwork thwarted them again, Crouch denied this time moments after Lee Harper's clearance had bounced off Moore and gone inches wide at the other end.

Little also fired just over as Burnley attacked well themselves but the Clarets' defensive frailties were exposed again and this time punished when Marcus Bignot converted an Andy Thomson knock-down with more than half-an-hour to go.

The Clarets then gave Rangers too much space to play and should have twice been undone by Michel Ngonge.

However, it was not the substitute's day -- a point underlined a minute from time when he went down in the box under a belated challenge from Graham Branch but failed to get the verdict on a more than reasonable looking penalty claim.