BURNLEY boss Stan Ternent may be forced to move into the loan market for a new striker to keep the Clarets' promotion charge on full throttle in the absence of top-scorer Andy Payton.

The 18-goal front-man is set to miss three games after being dismissed for violent conduct in Saturday's magnificent 1-0 win over leaders Bristol Rovers.

Payton, who clashed with Bristol full-back Trevor Challis as they lined up for a free-kick, will be ruled out of the promotion showdowns with Wigan and Preston at Turf Moor, as well as the trip to Colchester United in between.

With the Clarets short of back-up for Payton and Andy Cooke following the injury to Alan Lee and Peter Swan's lack of match practice, Ternent is almost certain to look for reinforcements to help Burnley through a vital spell.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said the boss today, who has the best part of two weeks to line up a temporary replacement if that's the way he chooses to go.

Ternent didn't directly see the incident which led to Payton's sending off and prompted Burnley's superb rearguard action.

"It takes two to tango and I felt we were on the wrong end of a lot of stuff.

"But, through the adversity, they came up trumps and showed fantastic spirit, determination and not a little skill," he said.

Meanwhile, Rovers, who were knocked off the top of the table by Glen Little's stunning second-half goal, intend to appeal against the yellow card shown to Latvian international Vitalijs Astafjevs following the flare-up that preceded Payton's 27th-minute dismissal. "We will be complaining about that. Poor Vitalijs didn't have the words to tell him 'It wasn't me'," said Rovers manager Ian Holloway.

Burnley stayed in fifth place in the table following their eighth successive home win but closed the gap on Rovers, Wigan and new leaders Preston thanks to Little's strike and a rock-solid defensive performance.

"It was a sensational goal. He's the only one who can do things like that. It was top-drawer stuff, world-class stuff.

"It was a magnificent performance from the players and the fans like. They played their part today. They were fantastic for us," said Ternent.

He added: "We have this spirit in the club now and if you believe and you stick together, you can move mountains. I'm proud of the players, proud of the supporters and delighted for them.

"We had to defend, we had a our backs to the wall but Ian Cox, Steve Davis, Mitchell Thomas, Branchy, the whole lot of them, I thought they were fantastic.

"It's a result against the odds but a goal worthy of winning any match, anywhere." Burnley's ninth clean sheet at Turf Moor this season represented the perfect home debut for new signing Ian Cox, who Ternent believes was a bargain buy from Bournemouth at £500,000.

"Coxy is a quality player. He's an excellent defender, a lovely lad and he's got all the attributes. In my view he should be playing higher up and I'm amazed I got him for the amount of money I did," said Ternent, whose side is well placed to step up their promotion bid with over a third of the season still to go. "One swallow doesn't make a summer but when you get towards the end of the season I know through experience that it's very difficult to win a league, to win a championship because you get into a must-win situation.

"Since I've been at Burnley it's always been a must-win situation, so that's nothing knew for us," he added.

And match-winner Little believes Saturday's result gives Burnley the ideal platform to sustain their challenge.

"We knew if we won it would set us up nicely. There are about six big games in the next six weeks and that was just the first one," he said.

"It we had been beaten it might have dampened it a bit but we are buzzing now. We've had a good win, beaten at the top team. I think we always knew that at home we can beat anyone and we showed that again."

He added: "Once the sending off happened I did think it would be quite difficult to win the game.

"I thought we might be able to hold out for a draw. They had a lot of possession but we had a couple of breaks and we made it pay. They had a few corners and Crichts made a couple of saves but considering how many goals Roberts and Cureton have scored, we kept them fairly quiet which shows just how well we played at the back."

Burnley's youth team lost 1-0 away to Youth Alliance North-West Conference leaders Bury.

The Clarets' re-scheduled home game against Gillingham has been fixed for Tuesday, April 18.

Accrington Clarets hold their monthly meeting at the Queen's Hotel in Accrington tonight, start 8pm.

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