Division Two: Burnley 2, Brentford 2 - Pete Oliver's match verdict

BURIED in the welter of statistics that Opta will churn out this week on behalf of the Nationwide and Premier leagues should be a goal assist credited to Middlesbrough's Graham Frankland.

Frankland hasn't been recruited by Bryan Robson to fill in when Paul Gascoigne pays the price for his latest misdemeanour.

Although the way in which he laid the ball into the path of Brentford's Paul Evans for his spectacular equaliser was reminiscent of the Geordie genius in his hey-day.

Instead, he's the referee who hails from Teesside, and who inadvertently played a key role in the goal that allowed Brentford to extend their unbeaten League run to a remarkable 25 games and end Burnley's 100 per cent home record this season.

Neatly dispossessing John Mullin, Frankland, with his second touch of the afternoon, diverted the ball to Evans who was the one man on the visitors' side capable of taking full advantage.

The Welsh under-21 international scored from 62 yards against Preston the week before so delightfully chipping Paul Crichton from around 45 was a piece of cake for the little midfielder, who has never before been on a losing Brentford side on League duty.

The same accolade is shared by Scott Partridge, who joined the club in February when Ron Noades' squad set off on their great adventure.

And it was Partridge's opportunist strike following a dreadful blunder by Gordon Armstrong nine minutes into the second half that paved the way for the Bees' fightback after they had trailed 2-0 after half-an-hour.

To Burnley's credit they didn't subsequently bemoan their bad luck concerning the referee's unfortunate intervention. But perhaps they knew that such complaints would have hollow ring to them after they failed to ram home the advantage given them by headed goals from Andy Payton and Paul Cook.

Previously this season two goals would have been enough to win any game on a run that has taken the Clarets into the higher reaches of the division.

But few sides have shown the tenacity and skill of Brentford and, once they had been invited into the contest, they always looked likely to score a second.

Burnley's failure to retain possession in the second half was alarming as they constantly put themselves under pressure.

Nine times out of 10 they may have ridden out the storm and Brentford would certainly have struggled to get back into the game without a goal early in the second half.

But Armstrong's error, as grotesque as it was uncharacteristic, meant Burnley were unable to kill the game off and were left frantically chasing a late winner to preserve their Turf Moor record. Point-saver Evans had missed a sitter by comparison early on but a piece of sheer magic from Glen Little changed the course of the game for the first time mid-way through the first half. Collecting the ball following a throw-in, Little duped two Brentford defenders and after waltzing away from the pair hung up the perfect cross for Payton to head powerfully beyond Andy Woodman for his seventh goal of the season. Seven minutes later it was 2-0 and again Little was the source. His teasing cross eluded all the Brentford defenders except Robert Quinn, who could only glance the ball to Cook who showed tremendous reactions to direct his own header into the bottom corner.

Given Burnley's defensive record this season that looked like being game over. And that would certainly have been the case had Graham Branch's header from a Cook corner looped into the net rather than against the crossbar.

But, after going close to getting a third again shortly after the break when Armstrong popped up at the far post following another dangerous corner, the Clarets surrendered the initiative.

Their passing was shocking and with no-one in a claret and blue shirt stamping their authority on the game, Armstrong's back-pass straight to the impressive Partridge, who duly lifted the ball over a stranded Crichton to make it 2-1, couldn't have come at a worse time.

Stan Ternent responded by trying to stiffen up a midfield developing some worrying gaps by throwing on Lenny Johnrose and reverting towards a flat back four.

But despite threatening themselves, Cook blasting just wide from 25 yards, Burnley still looked vulnerable to the counter-attack. They seemed to have survived, however, until Frankland and Evans combined with devastating effect.

It was then a case of trying to rectify the damage while not going under completely and Burnley, conscious of the fact that they had spurned two valuable points, threw everything into pinching a late winner.

Twice inside the last five minutes they had the chance to make amends. But ring-rustiness may have been behind the efforts from Mullin and Andy Cooke who failed to locate the back of the net, but can look forward to more meaningful contributions in the coming weeks.

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