BURNLEY stormed to the top of the Second Division with a display which indicated genuine promotion potential.

Being in those promotion places at the end of the season is all that really matters to Clarets boss Stan Ternent.

But, after Burnley beat Bournemouth 2-1 to chalk up their fourth win of the campaign last night, he enjoyed the contrast with last season when Burnley were floundering near the bottom of the pile.

Ternent said: "It's always nice to be up the top of the league. We have a points target per match and we're just about on target at the moment.

"I would like to be top of the league at the end of April and in May and that's the object of the exercise.

"But it's a lot better than it was this time last year and in March time when we were fighting for our lives."

Luton Town and Bristol Rovers had the chance this afternoon to dislodge Burnley from top spot on goal difference.

But the Clarets confirmed their place among the early front-runners with goals from Graham Branch and Steve Davis on his return after four matches out through injury.

"Steve did very well. Obviously he's short of match practice but he scored a fantastic goal for us and I thought he handled Steve Fletcher very well," Ternent added.

"Outside the box Fletcher won quite a few headers but that isn't a problem for us and in the box he only had one header.

"So I thought it was a fantastic performance from Steve, as it was a great show from Glen Little, from Andy Payton and from Paul Crichton right through the team. "They were all up there and they were all spot-on and they wanted to be top of the league last night.

"And they got their just desserts as far as I'm concerned."

The Clarets produced their best performance of the season with all departments of the side clicking into shape to account for a Bournemouth side that only missed out on last season's play-offs on goals scored.

And Ternent was pleased with the response his players showed on the back of Monday's first defeat in 15 League games.

"Good teams, if they lose a game, normally bounce back and that's what they did," he said.

"It was a tough match as they are a very good side.

"We worked hard to get a goal but then they went straight down the other end and scored through a bit of slack marking.

"But we had a chat about it at half-time and we upped it a touch and I thought it was a very good performance and an excellent win." And with the Clarets able to maintain their level of performance throughout a high-quality game, they were able to complete their most convincing victory yet to put themselves in good shape for next Saturday's derby clash at Preston.

"I think we were trying to protect a lead (in the other games) and against Stoke we defended too deep later on. But last night I thought it was more comfortable than that," confirmed a satisfied Ternent.

Substitute Alan Lee was not used as the Republic under 21s were trounced 5-1 by Croatia.

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