MICKY Mellon has forged a reputation for surging runs deep into opposing territory which he enhanced to the full with a spectacular celebration of Burnley's winner against his former club yesterday.

Having secured three more vital points for the Clarets with a blistering 76th-minute strike, Mellon left the Blackpool fans, who jeered him throughout, in no doubt as to who was ending their four-match unbeaten run.

Sprinting half the length of the pitch to get close enough for the Seasiders' followers to read the letters on the back of the shirt he held towards them, Mellon was clearly pleased to have silenced the knockers.

And while he stressed afterwards that winning was the important thing, Mellon's reaction to his second stunning goal in as many games at Turf Moor was evidence that this one meant more than most.

However, his effort was also pretty crucial for the Clarets' cause as they sought to turn domination into the maximum reward to keep their north-west rivals Wigan and Preston within touching distance.

The Second Division's powerbase looks likely to reside in this corner of the country with Wigan and North End currently occupying the top two places in the table being eyed by the Clarets.

Blackpool won't play a part in the regional monopoly but they are doughty opponents who should at least survive the drop.

And so it was with some relief that Burnley finally made the breakthrough after numerous openings had failed to yield the one goal that looked increasingly likely to settle an entertaining game.

John Mullin, Andy Cooke, Andy Payton and Glen Little had all gone close to giving Burnley the lead before half-time.

And Steve Davis also rattled the crossbar with a trademark free-kick as the home side upped the tempo.

But Tony Caig was a formidable barrier before and after the break until Mellon gave him no chance to lift Burnley up to fourth place in the table and within two points of the pacesetters.

The Clarets' impressive record at Turf Moor compared with Blackpool's miserable away return of just one victory and two draws in eight games had this marked down as a home banker.

And when Payton and Mullin combined after just five minutes for Mullin to test Caig it looked as though it might be a comfortable afternoon for Stan Ternent's in-form side.

However, Blackpool are also an improving side following a disastrous start to the season.

And they showed it wouldn't be one-way traffic with an impressive spell in which John Murphy, John Durnin and David Lee all made their presence felt.

Youngster Danny Coid should have made more of a Lee cross, Davis saved the day for the hosts with a last-ditch tackle on Durnin and Lee then curled a shot just wide.

But Burnley's defence, chasing a third successive home clean sheet, didn't allow such liberties for long as the pendulum swung emphatically back the Clarets' way.

Gordon Armstrong did an excellent job in shackling Lee, to such an extent that the on-loan Wigan man didn't see out the game.

Davis and Mitchell Thomas also got to grips with the potentially awkward pairing of Murphy and Durnin and West justified his recall in place of the luckless Chris Brass with an assured performance in attack and defence.

Davis is a massive influence for Burnley in so many areas and he got the Clarets moving again with a 25th-minute free-kick which he curled against the bar.

Playing some inventive and attractive football, the home side then took complete control without being able to provide the finishing touch.

Caig saved superbly from the lively Cooke and Payton, working feverishly to end his barren spell, threatened several times in the air.

But the best chance fell to Little whose header from West's pinpoint cross would surely have ended the stalemate had it gone either side of Caig.

Despite their run-around leading up to half-time, Blackpool were still in the contest and after Coid and Phil Clarkson had dragged long-range efforts wide, John Hills was only a whisker away from giving them the lead with a quickly-taken free-kick with an hour gone.

Again though it was largely a tale of Burnley attacks falling at the final hurdle as the Seasiders began to look as though they might hold out.

But with the pressure for a winner beginning to mount, Payton finally found a way through with an incisive run only for Caig to block his effort.

And seven minutes later Burnley's persistence paid off.

Little worked the opening with a delightful piece of skill to beat Hills. His cross was too deep for Cooke to hit the target but the striker kept the ball alive by nodding it into the danger area.

Typically for Payton at the moment it wouldn't drop for him to shoot but with Mellon arriving on the edge of the box, the midfield man collected Payton's lay-off to blast a 20-yarder into the corner of the net.

Cue the celebration and another was to follow some 15 minutes later with no alarms in between, although Paul Crichton's side-step around Durnin produced a few palpitations in the Burnley ranks. Exciting times indeed.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.