RIVAL bosses Stan Ternent and Andy Hessenthaler shared a holiday drink over the summer but were looking to put one over each other at Turf Moor this afternoon.

Burnley pipped Gillingham to the second automatic promotion place on the final day of last season but with the Gills making it up through the play-offs the rivalry has been renewed again in Division One.

And Hessenthaler put friendship on one side as he looked for a repeat of their last two trips to Burnley when the Gills have run out 3-0 and 5-0 winners.

The rookie boss, whose side collected their first point of the season at home to Portsmouth on Friday night, said: "Burnley will be a strong side. I met Stan on holiday in the summer and we had a good chat over a beer and it will be nice to see him again.

"But we've had two decent results in the last two years and I hope that continues today.

"We've had that extra day's rest as they played on Saturday and hopefully that will help as well.

"We'll take some confidence from Friday's game into today and let's hope we come away from Burnley with some more points."

The Clarets were bidding to bounce back from their opening defeat of the season at Wolves on Saturday when they went down 1-0 to a 74th-minute Steve Sedgley goal.

And they will have been confident of making it another home win after doing enough to earn a share of the spoils at Molineux, where substitute Andy Payton was unfortunate not to win a penalty in a late fightback.

"You don't get those decisions away from home.

"I don't want to add fuel to the fire about these referees. I thought he gave a fantastic home performance, but there you are," said Ternent. The Clarets chief added: "In football you don't always get what you deserve and Saturday was one of those cases.

"I think we deserved to get something out of the game but unfortunately it conspired against us.

"We played particularly well and I thought the lads were a credit to the club. If we maintain that level of performance then we'll be fine.

"We are as good a side as Wolves but they got the break.

"It was one of those days when we couldn't convert the chances and I don't think Paul Crichton had a great deal to do, other than catch a few high crosses.

"It didn't work for us but sometimes that happens. But we take it on the chin and prepare for the game against Gillingham which is of the utmost importance to us."

Goalkeeper Nikolaos Michopoulos travelled with the squad on Saturday to get a feel for the Clarets set-up after signing a month's contract and was likely to be Crichton's understudy at Turf Moor again today.

The Clarets did little wrong at Wolves to prompt major changes for the Gills' visit but Payton must be closing in on a start after getting another 15 minutes under his belt.

Gillingham may be unchanged from Friday's 1-1 draw with former Burnley loan striker Paul Shaw again absent.

Burnley from: Crichton, Weller, Briscoe, Cox, Davis, Thomas, Little, Ball, Cooke, Gray, Cook, Payton, Mullin, Branch, Smith, Armstrong, Lee, Mellon.

Gillingham from: Bartram, Edge, Ashby, Butters, Southall, Hessenthaler, Asaba, Gooden, Lewis, Thomson, Hope, King, Mitten, Patterson, Bryan, Browning.